Still Waters Run Deep
by Drachesoul
Summary: The moment Kang Seulgi watched Bae Joohyun being crowned a champion Trainer, she knew she had to get to know the beautiful girl. And Seulgi never does anything halfway, so she goes as far to transfer to Irene's school in the Kalos Region. But what starts out as an attempt to befriend one of the world's most powerful Trainers turns into something much bigger. Eventual Seulrene.
1. Chapter 1

_My name is Kang Seulgi and from the moment I was old enough to receive my first starter Pokémon, I knew that I wanted to become the best Trainer in Alola. Fast forward seven years, to my second year in Trainer School and I realized that my dream would be a little harder to achieve than I originally thought. I watched on T.V. as Trainers such as Moonbyul from Hoenn and Irene from Kalos defeated their champions and entered the Hall of Fame, to forever be immortalized._

_So I figured if I wanted to be the best then I needed to go to school with the best. But some things are easier said than done. Welcome to the Kalos Academy and to my story._

XXX

"Leeteuk, I don't get why we have to do all of these things to prepare," Irene complained, staring listlessly out of the car window at the scenery rolling by. Her Alolan Ninetales curled up on the seat next to her, content with snoozing the whole car ride away.

"Irene, you're one of only a few people to become a Hall of Fame Trainer, and as such you must treat your fans well. They've propelled you to stardom and now it's time to give back," the Kalos Champion replied smoothly. "You're going back to the Academy to finish your schooling there, but in between your classes there are people who expect you to fulfill your end of the bargain."

Irene rolled her eyes. She did not sign up for all of this. Granted, she didn't think she would ever make it through the entire Kalos gym circuit, much less challenge and defeat the Elite Four. She liked the fame at first, enjoying the long lines of fans that shouted her praises and asked for autographs. Things quickly got lonely though. Her status as a Champion separated her out from the legions of other Pokémon Trainers. It didn't help that she wasn't much of a people person outside of when she had to be.

"Are you thinking about it again?" Leeteuk asked softly, turning to face Irene. "I know it's only been a couple of months since it happened, but don't you think he'd want you to go through with it? After all, you couldn't have done any of this without him."

She had been on top of the world. But the higher the pedestal, the harder the fall, Irene figured. Less than a month after her victory over Leeteuk, she had her world torn apart. Dante. Her faithful Charizard, the Pokémon that she'd been partnered with for years had suddenly and unexpectedly fallen ill.

He was sick for a very long time, and even the best of healers couldn't find what was wrong with him. Irene remembered being at dinner with some of her friends when she received the phone call. The next day, she was standing in Lavender Town in the Kanto region, laying a bouquet of flowers near a silver plaque.

Of course the entire region mourned with her. They saw it as the tragic tale of a champion Pokémon cut down in his prime, but for Irene, who had raised him from a tiny Charmander, it was far more personal and heart-wrenching.

The car rolled to a stop at a fancy wrought-iron gate, and within seconds the car was surrounded by young men and women screaming their heads off and waving little signs shaped like Irene's face. For a brief moment Irene thought she saw a marriage proposal among the numerous signs being waved around. It took the security guard and her three Mightyena to stave off the crowd long enough for the car to scoot through, the gates closing behind them with a heavy thud.

"Irene? Joohyun!" Leeteuk shook the young woman's shoulder and disrupted her reverie. Ninetales whined and pawed at her Trainer. "We're here."

Irene looked out at the familiar grounds before her and couldn't help the growing pit of anxiety in her stomach. How would she be able to handle returning to school without her most trusted companion by her side?

"Leeteuk can we just sit here for a while before I get out? It's kind of overwhelming." Her mentor nodded kindly, crossing his legs and taking out his tablet. Irene heard the sound of a popular mobile game coming from the tablet a second later.

"Take as long as you need, Joohyun."

They sat together for about twenty minutes before Irene finally gathered up her courage. "I guess I should get going. I still have the same room, yeah?" Irene avoided theChampion's gaze as she gathered up her things and opened the back door. She didn't want Leeteuk to see the lone tear that rolled down her face.

Recalling Ninetales back into her Pokéball, Irene snapped the ball onto her belt and walked the familiar route back to her dorm room. She climbed up the flight of stairs in front of Dorm One and was about to reach the top she suddenly collided with something tall and sturdy. She was bounced back down the stairs, where sherolled to a stop, her muscles groaning in protest. "Ow, what the fuck?"

XXX

From the moment Kang Seulgi saw Leeteuk crown a new Kalos Champion, she knew she had to meet the raven-haired Trainer. She even caught herself a Vulpix, which she hoped would soon evolve into a Ninetales, like Irene's. There was only one problem.

Seulgi lived in the Alolan region, a long distance from the far-off Kalos between the two was expensive to say the least, and a three-day journey to boot. Rarely were planes chartered to travel that distance, as they had to make stopovers in Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova before reaching Kalos. In fact, there were only two reasons to charter a plane to Kalos.

Onewas to obtain a region passport and officially move there, a process which could take years to come to fruition, and Seulgi simply didn't have the time. The second was far more manageable, if harder to obtain in her case. If Seulgi wanted to meet Irene in Kalos, she had to travel with a student visa.

Seulgi currently attended one of the Alolan Region's best schools for up and coming Trainers and maintained high enough grades to be considered for a transfer program. She had dutifully filled out the paperwork and registered her team with the appropriate organizations and just last week had received her letter of approval from the school in Kalos.

Granted, she may have slightly embellished her transcripts just a little bit. (Her Bewear hadn't beaten that many opponents) Nevertheless, the Kalos Academy for Gifted Trainers was happy to accept her as a transfer student.

Now three days later, she was walking up the road, orange rolling suitcase in one hand and town map in the other, jet-lagged and highly confused. The Academy should be around here somewhere… She turned right at the next intersectionand was immediately blocked by a growing crowd of fans. What is going on here? She wondered, stowing away her map and tightening her grip on her belongings. Seulgi soon found herself knee-deep in fangirls as she tried in vain to wade through the crowd. Who could they be waiting for? "Irene! Irene! IRENE! IRENE!"

Seulgi wished she could call her partner Pokemon out and get rid of all the fans. One look at her Bewear would send them scurrying away like Rattata . She stood on her tiptoes to glean just the slightest glance of a black van being stopped at the gate. Her heart suddenly beat faster, and she just knew that Bae Joohyun was in that van. Seulgi had to restrain herself from letting out a squeal, lest people catch on to her true plan.

The one thing her new school had adamantly declared upon her acceptance: No bothering their celebrity students. Joohyun wasn't the only celebrity attending their school. Moon Byulyi, a Hall of Famer from Kanto, Park Jihyo, an elite Pokémon Breeder and Kim Yongsun, a champion coordinator from Hoenn also attended school there. So that meant absolutely no cameras other than the ones the school-provided tablets (all of which were on a closed network restricted to school students and staff), no ambushing them for autographs or advice, and definitely no battles with them unless sanctioned by staff.

Seulgi was driven back as the crowd suddenly dispersed, no doubt thanks to the three snarling Mightyena herding people away from the van. She watched as it crawled through a tiny opening in the front gate before the wrought-iron gate shut behind it.

"Hey, you! What are you doing here?" the security guard asked, pointing at Seulgi and waiting for an explanation. Her Pokémon flanked her and growled.

"Uh, hi. My n-name is Kang Seulgi and I just transferred here." She reached into her backpack for the transcripts and letters she had received just in case she was questioned further.

The officer scoffed, "Yeah, right. Do you know how many boys and girls say that in order to get inside these gates?"

"No, really, I have my papers and everything!" She handed over the documents and waited patiently as the officer carefully pored over every single page, no doubt checking for even the slightest error or discrepancy.

Seulgi heard a sigh and was handed her papers back, before being waved through the gate with nothing more than a reluctant, "Go on then. You don't want to be late for morning classes. The office is located in the largest building, they'll want to see you before you start."

Seulgi's face dissolved into a huge grin, as she thanked the officer and bounced through the gate. I'm in!

The farther she walked, the more she was impressed. The Alolan Academy's campus was a decent size, but was absolutely nothing compared to the grounds before her. It must've been three times the size of her old school, and from what she could see, it was filled with the latest state-of-the-art battling equipment and coordinating arenas.

A row of six grass-and-dirt stadiums were on her left, and she saw a few early risers out with their Pokémon, putting them through their paces and engaging in practice battles. On the other side of the main road she was on stood an outdoor arena that was not doubt home to practice contests. She saw a beautiful shiny Rapidash let loose with a dazzling Flame Charge attack, the red flames mixing with the silver of the Pokémon's natural mane.

Both areas led to a sprawling modern building that bustled with activity, even though it was only eight in the morning. She stopped in front of the glass double doors leading inside and took a deep breath.

"All right Seulgi, you have gotten this far. Alola is a long way from here, and as of this moment you are in the big leagues. You better not screw this up." Seulgi enjoyed giving herself pep talks, as it calmed her nerves whether she was standing in front of a large crowd before a major battle or preparing to give a speech to her classmates about the dangers of improperly grown Oran Berries.

Steeling herself, she rested her left hand on the doorknob before sighing and pushing the door open. Seulgi whistled in surprise as she walked in on a magnificent scene. People and Pokémon of all shapes and sizes were busy attending to their morning tasks, and she had to stop and just experience everything. The young Trainer walked to the center of the ground floor, where a directory had been placed for easy locating. She typed in the office number on the touch-screen and was told to head up to the third floor via the elevator, where Admissions and Transfers was located.

Seulgi gathered her things and strolled over to the elevators, and was shuttled up to the third floor, where she needed to put the finishing touches on her enrollment. The third floor was even busier than the first, though she figured it was because this floor housed all of the Student Life offices as well as the Admissions people. Spotting a sign labeled Admissions and Transfers, she knocked politely on the door, which was answered by a Gardevoir.

"May I help you?" a voice resounded in her mind. She took a step back before remembering that most Psychic Pokémon could communicate via telepathy, and smiled at the Pokémon.

"Yes, I think you can. I'm Kang Seulgi and I'm the new transfer student." Seulgi started to pull out her papers again, but the Gardevoir shook her head and ushered her inside with a small smile of her own.

"We've been expecting you, Miss Kang. Professor Kim would like to meet with you before you rush off to classes. His office is just inside to your right."

Seulgi thanked the Gardevoir and made a beeline for Professor Kim's office. She paused and took a moment to spruce up her hair and get in the right mindset before approaching the professor.

He sat at his desk, too busy typing notes on his computer to notice her arrival. Seulgi cleared her throat and he jumped up in surprise, his glasses nearly slipping off his nose. "Ah, Ms. Kang, I presume."

She nodded and gave him her registration papers and transcript, which he took with a smile, gesturing for her to take a seat in one of the comfortable-looking chairs facing his desk. Setting her belongings on the ground next to her, she sat waiting for him to finish reading her documents, hands folded neatly in her lap.

"I see you come to us with a very impressive record from Alola, Seulgi? Indeed, your grades are phenomenal, and your Pokémon seem like seasoned veterans at their craft. But I must ask, why choose to transfer here for the remainder of your schooling?"

She took a minute to think of her answer before saying sincerely, "While I love my home region very much, Professor, the Kalos Region seemed like the perfect place to get an education that's focused on things other than battling or coordinating or breeding. I wanted a balance between my career as a Trainer and my responsibilities as a young adult about to venture into a world that's not entirely dependent on the number of badges you own."

Kim Dongwan nodded and flipped to the next page in her registration. "A well-thought out answer, Seulgi, and one that I think perfectly sums up what the Kalos Academy for Gifted Trainers is all about. Rest assured that not everything at this school is Pokémon, though most of it is. Students are required to take normal classes in addition to those in their chosen field of study, along with two electives per semester."

Whew, that seems like a lot of work, she thought for a split second before dismissing the errant thought. She had been through a rigorous program before in Alola, and this one seemed no different, albeit less focused on battling. Seulgi waited with bated breath while Professor Kim made a few marks on her registration and opened his desk drawer to pull out a stamp. He marked the last page of the registration and pushed it back over to her, handing her a pen.

"Just sign here confirming your intention to register here, and your agreement to our rules and regulations." Seulgi grinned and signed her name, "Well, Kang Seulgi welcome to the Kalos Region! Gardevoir here will direct you to Student Affairs, where you'll get your locker assignment, dorm assignment and class schedule. We'll give you until lunch to find everything and get settled in your room."

"Thank you, Professor Kim," Seulgi bowed politely and followed the Gardevoir out. She was directed to go down the hall, and take the next right, where Student Affairs was located.

This section of the floor looked a lot less stiff and formal then the rest of the building, covered in announcement boards, Trainer Tips and Pokémon stat sheets. She made her way to the front desk there and was greeted by a bubbly blonde, who was rolling back and forth across her office space on the wheeled chair. Seulgi's eyes widened. The girl looked awfully familiar…

"Hi, you must be Seulgi. I'm Yongsun, the Director of Student Affairs, but you can call me Solar!" The champion coordinator offered her hand, which Seulgi took happily. Yongsun turned her gaze back to the computer and typed a few things into the system before handing Seulgi a small binder. "I'm supposed to give you this. It's a copy of all of the dorm rules and regulations, just to make sure you understand. Your locker number, default combination and schedule are already in one of the front pockets."

Seulgi took the binder and flipped it open, taking a moment to memorize her locker combination. Having an eidetic memory came in handy sometimes. Yongsun dug into her jean pocket and dug out a small gold key, which she used to unlock one of the file cabinets next to her desk. "This is your I.D. card, make sure you haveit with you at all times, otherwise you won't be able to buy lunch or attend any events. Trust me, I've lost mine so many times that my girlfriend told to just keep it around my neck."

"I'll keep it safe," Seulgi assured her, inserting the I.D. into a plastic holder and attaching an Alolan-style lanyard to it. "Is there anything else? I kind of wanna explore a bit before lunch starts."

"Just one more thing." Using her feet to propel her chair across the room, Yongsun unlocked a drawer to her left. "Your room assignment and key. Might wanna dump your things off in your room before heading to class."

"Oh,thanks, I completely forgot about that." She glanced at the inscription that had been lasered into her dorm key and noticed that she would be living in Dorm One. "I guess I'll see you around soon, then. It was nice to meet you Yongsun—I mean Solar."

"You too, Seulgi!" Yongsun waved to her as she turned around to leave. She seems really nice, Seulgi thought. She was a champion coordinator after all. Pocketing her key and consulting her Town Map again, which had been updated to show a map of the Academy grounds, she took the elevator back down to the ground floor, walking outside. Her next destination was Dorm One.

According to her map, there were three different dorms at the Academy. All three were co-ed, though separated by floor so as to discourage fraternization. Dorm One seemed to be the primary dorm for those Trainers interested in competitive battling. Dorm 2 belonged to the Coordinators, and though Seulgi couldn't see much through the tinted glass, it seemed to be very vibrant and full of creative energy. The last dorm was home to the breeders, and those focused on either the breeder track or the healer track.

She was so focused on gleaning every last detail her map had to give her that she only had a split second to react before a figure crashed into her, sending her falling forwards and the other unfortunate soul backwards down the stairs."That hurt…"

Turning around to apologize to whoever had collided with her, Seulgi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. Lying sprawled at the bottom of the stairs and looking positively murderous was a beautiful raven-haired Trainer. "Bae Joohyun," Seulgi whispered in awe.

"Ow,what the fuck?"


	2. Chapter 2

Irene levered herself into an upright position, her back muscles groaning in protest. She scrambled around to collect her clothes, which had fallen out of bags during the tumble. "Man, that hurt..."

"I am so, so sorry, " a light female voice apologized, dashing down the stairs two at a time to assist the Champion. "I didn't think anyone was behind me."

Irene finally turned around to face the other girl and had to stifle a snort. The girl she had run into was a few inches taller than her, and though Irene could see she was quite pretty she was wearing a rumpled hoodie and sweatpants. Which, not a fashionable look in the slightest.

"You do realize there's a uniform here, right?" she couldn't stop herself from asking the other girl, though a small smile appeared on her face. "Which would probably improve your fashion sense."

The brunette just shrugged off the veiled insult and shot Irene a dazzling smile. "I'm not going to deny that. I've just transferred here and was just exploring the campus. My name's Kang Seulgi."

Seulgi held out her hand in greeting, and Irene took it warily. "Bae Joohyun. But most people call me Irene. Look, just a friendly piece of advice Seulgi. This school takes its rules and regulations seriously. I'd suggest getting out of those clothes and into your uniform before you get in trouble."

Irene put the last of her clothes in her bags and snapped the clasps shut before brushing past Seulgi and up the stairs in the direction of Dorm One. Fumbling with her keys, she found the correct ones and pushed open the door to her room.

Irene allowed herself to finally breathe as she drunk in the familiar sight of her room. All of the dorms at the academy were exquisite in design and very spacious. Students normally had between one and two other roommates, but Irene had used her status as a Hall of Famer to procure one just for herself. She claimed the bottom area for herself, leaving the upper loft untouched. A tight spiral staircase led up to the platform where a roommate was to stay, complete with a second set of drawers and a bedside table.

To the left of her bed was a compact machine that was permanently hooked up to a power source. That little machine was what separated the Kalos Academy from those of other regions. With a student body nearing 500, each room was equipped with a pair of overnight healing machines. Students were to take their teams of Pokemon and place them in the machine, which would completely heal their partners over the course of the night.

Turning on the machine, Irene deposited her team inside to give them a bit of a power nap. Tears came unbidden to her eyes as she closed the machine, looking sadly at the five Pokeballs through the glass.

Classes didn't start until after lunch for her, so she stowed her bags under her bed and collapsed on the soft mattress, sighing heavily. Irene set her alarm for an hour and drifted off to sleep, already exhausted.

XXX

Oh my god, I ran into Irene! Seulgi tried not to panic as the shorter Trainer brushed past her and into Dorm One. Most people would never get to meet the famous girl, let alone talk to her, and Seulgi felt honored.

Well, mostly honored. Irene did shoot her what sounded a lot like an insult, but even as the words had fallen out of her mouth, Seulgi could tell that Irene wasn't all that serious. She glanced at her watch and gasped. It was already almost noon! She still had to rush to her locker to change clothes and dash over to the dining hall to grab lunch before afternoon classes started.

Seulgi got directions to the locker rooms from a pair of breeders named Nayeon and Momo and ran there as fast as she could while carrying her heavy suitcase. Upon opening her locker, she discovered that the uniform she was required to wear didn't look all that bad. Seulgi pulled off her hoodie and and stuffed in her locker, putting on a white button-up shirt and black blazer. She looked around to make sure the room was empty before taking off her jeans and replacing them with a short skirt, also in black. Wrapped around the hanger that everything came on was a red tie with a black pin, a handwritten note stuck to the end.

This is your tie, and it represents the major track you have chosen. Red ties belong to the competitive battlers here, Blue to the coordinators and Green to the breeders. Within each dorm there are floors, represented by the pin attached to the tie. The first floor of each form has a black pin, the second purple, and the third white. Throughout the academic year there are a variety of events that pit dorm against dorm or floor against floor in a show of friendly competition. I have no doubt that after a few days here, you will learn from the other students about these competitions.

All the best,

Professor Kim Dongwan

Seulgi put on her tie and smoothed it out, straightening all the creases in the brand-new material. Taking a look at her overall reflection in the mirror, she smiled. Granted there were still dark circles under her eyes from all the traveling, but other than that she was satisfied.

By the time she had finished getting dressed she only had a few minutes to grab a quick snack from the dining hall before afternoon classes began. Seulgi took a look at the campus map and hoped she wouldn't be late to her very first class at the Academy.

"Now where am I supposed to go? I need classroom 104. 104...ah, here it is." Luckily for Seulgi she still had a few minutes before the bell rang and the teacher arrived, so she walked in and was immediately struck with a whiteboard marker.

"Nice shot, maknae," a tall boy whooped, giving a high five to the other teenage boy next to him. "I'd give that one twenty points. Ten for a headshot and ten because she's the new transfer student."

Seulgi rubbed her forehead, and shot a withering glare at the boy, who at least had the decency to look slightly apologetic. "Hey, don't worry about them dude. Taeyong and the rest of his Bully Brigade are just a bunch of stupid boys with about twenty brain cells between them," a voice called.

"I figured," Seulgi eyed the two boys who were now having a belching contest. She scowled and took the empty seat next to the pretty short-haired girl. "I'm Seulgi. Kang Seulgi."

"Son Seungwan, but everyone calls me Wendy. Finally, it's nice to see another pretty face besides mine in class."


	3. Chapter 3

"Nice to meet you, Wendy," Seulgi chuckled. There was already something about the other Trainer's personality that she already liked. Cheesy lines and all.

Wendy smiled brightly, pointing at the red tie that Seulgi was wearing. "You're also a competitive battler too, huh? So am I, but I lost my tie and can't get a new one until next week."

Seulgi fingered absently at her tie. "I thought everyone had to wear theirs at all times?" The last thing she wanted to do was stick out like a sore thumb on her first day. For once, she was content with being the new student no one really talked to.

Wendy nodded but added in a conspiratorial whisper, "Yeah, but when you're the daughter of an Elite Four member, rules are a little easier to break. My dad is one of the Elite Four over in Kanto. He sent me here to finish my schooling in the hopes I'll take his place one day."

Seulgi was starstruck. It was only her first day here and she had already met a Hall of Famer, a Champion Coordinator and the daughter of an Elite Four member! "That sounds like a cushy gig."

"Eh, if you dig sitting around a lot waiting for challengers to appear," Wendy shrugged. "Truth be told it's not really my thing, but I have a few more years to decide. Might as well live them up while I have them."

"Hey, Son," Taeyong jeered from across the room. "How would your father take the news if he heard you didn't want to be an Elite Four member like him? He'd probably be SUPER disappointed in you. You gonna be a loser?"

Wendy growled, "Shut up you mouth-breathing troglodyte! Why don't you come over here and I'll show you what a real loser can do!" She made to walk over to the bully and give him a verbal smackdown when she felt a warm hand on her arm. Seulgi shook her head and Wendy calmed down. It wouldn't be a good impression on the pretty transfer student if she got in a fistfight.

"Aw, the fierce Wendy already has a girl to keep her in line," Taeyong called, clearly not smart enough to see the rage in the shorter girl's eyes. "Which reminds me...new girl! Have you completed the Academy Initiation challenge yet?"

Wendy's eyes widened and she lunged at the taller boy, who jerked back just in time to avoid getting a fist to his perfectly-proportioned face. "Don't you dare think of asking her to do what I think you're going to. That's just asking for trouble!"

Seulgi was tired of Taeyong and the others, and seeing Wendy defend her made her want to stand up to him. "What is it then?" She was not about to let her newfound friend risk detention for starting a fight. "I'll do it."

Taeyong sneered, "Every new person has to break into the kennels by the security office and grab one of the guardPokémon's tennis balls. Bring the ball back here and then we'll see what you're made of." He glanced at the clock above the doorway. "You have ten minutes."

Seulgi nodded and turned away from Taeyong, giving a thumbs-up to Wendy, who looked deeply concerned and walking out the door. The Security office wasn't far from the building she was currently in, so she ran outside to complete the dare. Nine minutes.

She stood outside the door, weighing the pros and cons of what she was about to do. Mightyena were terribly territorial on a good day, and these had been trained since birth to guard and protect the school. In fact, a large "Beware of GuardPokémon sign had been hung up where even the stupidest person in the world could see the warning. Seven minutes

Inhaling deeply, Seulgi threw caution to the wind and ran full-tilt towards the locked gate, easily vaulting over the fencing. She landed on the other side with a muted thump and swore under her breath. Well. Too late to back out now. Six minutes.

A low growl made Seulgi's hair stand on end, as the biggest Mightyena she had ever seen woke up and starting padding towards her. She closed her eyes and shrunk in on herself, preparing for the worst. Five minutes.

But the large wolf Pokémon didn't attack her. As if it sensed her motives it merely wagged its tail and gave a happy woofle. The Mightyena approached Seulgi and gently licked her cheek, pushing its huge furry head under her chin, begging for attention. Four minutes.

"What? Taeyong said you were-why aren't you? Never mind. Listen Mightyena, I have a favor to ask of you. If I can borrow one of your toys for the day, I promise I'll come back tonight to play with you. Please? I need to prove myself here and this was the only way." Three minutes.

The Mightyena whined, then turned tail to walk back to its kennel, returning seconds later with a ragged saliva-coated tennis ball. It fell to the floor with a wet squelch. Seulgi let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding and thanked her new friend before climbing over the fence and heading back to class. Two minutes.

She raced up to her classroom, tennis ball in hand, and burst through the door just as time ran out. Everyone's eyes turned to her as she triumphantly held out the toy so that everyone could see. "Next time try something a little harder, " she called to Taeyong, throwing the spit-soaked ball at him and hitting him right in the face."

Wendy looked seriously impressed, as she bowed her head in recognition of her deed. "You know I think you and I are going to get along very well, Seulgi."

XXX

"So here's how thing's basically work around here," Wendy said, carrying Seulgi's luggage for her as they made their way back to the dorms. Seulgi tried to refuse the shorter girl's help but evidently that didn't work. "Each dorm is home to the students who are studying a major track. Red are the Battlers, Blue are the Coordinators and Green are the Breeders."

"I figured as much," Seulgi replied, "You know I can carry my own bags." But Wendy waved her off with a smile.

"Here's what they didn't tell you. There's a competition coming up in a few days, and that's when things can get really nasty here. Rivalries explode this time of year. Dorm One, where we live, has Groudon as its mascot. As Trainers who specialize in battling, we're the experts at strategy. The Coordinators, also known as Team Kyogre, take pride in their creative energy, and that gives them a real advantage in things that aren't strictly battle related."

Seulgi pulled out a notebook from her backpack and began writing down everything Wendy said. "And third?"

Wendy frowned, "Third are the breeders, Team Rayquaza. They're known for being very clever. Last year they almost won the competition because they found a loophole in the rules and exploited it. The judges figured it out in time and disqualified them, but they're definitely not a team to mess with. They have a new Captain though so hopefully their cheating days are over."

"Sounds like they have a score to settle with you guys then," Seulgi jotted that down in her notebook and Wendy wondered if the taller girl was this cute all the time.

"Damn straight," Wendy puffed out her chest as the two of them approached Dorm One. "Well, here we are. Need me to walk you to your room?"

Seulgi shook her head, "No, but thank you Wendy. I didn't think I'd make a friend here at the Academy so soon." She gathered her things from Wendy.

"Hey, you seem like a cool person. Besides, anyone who can make Taeyong fuck off is a hero in my book. If you ever need anything I'm just down the hall. I promise me and my two roommates are normal."

Seulgi grinned and turned in the opposite direction. She found her room without too much difficulty, and opened the door, nearly dropping her things as she took in the sight before her. Someone had already moved their stuff in, but even so the room was huge. One of the desks in the study area was already filled with pencils, pens and other supplies, so Seulgi dumped her bags on the other desk. She took a moment to wander around her new room and tried to to get a feel for what her new roommate would be like. "She likes photography," she said out loud, peering at a photo of a large Charizard in flight.

Seulgi spotted photos of a Zebstrika, Alolan Ninetales and a beautiful picture of the Academy at sunset and decided that she liked her roommate at first glance. She bustled into the bathroom that she would share and placed her toiletries on the shelf next to the other girl's. "Mmm, nice shampoo," she murmured, gazing at the row of beauty products. There was a fair bit of variety in her roommate's things, but Seulgi noticed that she didn't overdo it with the makeup and hair products.

"I think we'll get along well," Seulgi decided, climbing the spiral staircase to the second floor loft and unpacking the rest of her bags.

XXX

Irene was on her way back to her room that evening when her cell phone vibrated and she reluctantly answered it after looking at the caller ID. Leeteuk.

"Hello?"

"Joohyun where are you? We were supposed to meet an hour ago to talk about your photoshoot. Did you forget that it's happening tomorrow?"

Irene winced; time had gotten away from her and she had completely forgotten. "Yeah, I remember about tomorrow, I just totally blanked on tonight. It's been a hell of a day."

She heard an irrittated sigh coming from her mentor and fellow Champion. "Well do you at least have your full team ready for tomorrow? You need a team of six to maintain your title." Irene didn't answer. After what happened to Dante, she just couldn't bring herself to replace her beloved team member. Her belt still only held fivePokémon after all this time. "Joohyun, Joohyun are you there?"

"Yeah I'm here. Look, I'll see you at the shoot tomorrow, Leeteuk." She pressed the 'end call' button before her mentor could respond and shoved the phone back in her pocket. She only got a minute's reprieve though before her pocket started to buzz again.

"What?" she snapped, instantly regretting it.

Her father scolded her on the other line and she quickly apologized, citing a long day as her excuse for her poor behavior. "I'll forgive this bad attitude of yours only because you've had a very long day. Hyun-ah, we need to talk about tomorrow."

Irene was already so done with this conversation. Her day could not get any worse. "Oh, so now all of a sudden you care about me? It only took you what, eighteen years and famous daughter to realize that you were a father?" Irene spat, not caring anymore about his reaction.

"Don't you dare speak to me in that tone, young lady," he said calmly. "I only called to tell you that I'm flying out tonight so I can be there at your shoot tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me I have to finish making my travel arrangements. Don't disappoint me, Bae Joohyun." He abruptly hung up, leaving a stunned Irene in his wake.

How dare he speak to me like that, Irene thought, scanning her ID card in front of her dormitory. She waited until the little light flashed green before tugging open the door and making a beeline for her room. Her head hurt now, and she needed to think.

Jostling the door, she realized that it was locked. "Huh, I could have sworn that I left this unlocked when I went to dinner earlier." Brushing aside her thoughts she unlocked the door with her key and collided with someone for the second time that day.

XXX

Seulgi knew who had run into her a second after she was sent sprawling to the floor. She was hoping to see Irene again today, but she didn't think that out of all of the students at the Academy she would have gotten her as a roommate. "Irene? You're my roommate?"

The raven-haired Champion's eyes narrowed and he cheeks colored. "What the hell are you doing in my room, Seulgi?"

Seulgi could see that something had gotten Irene all wound up, but that didn't excuse her behavior. "Your room? I live here too, you know," Seulgi stomped her foot and looked Irene right in the eyes.

"Not anymore," Irene fumed, walking up to the loft and tossing Seulgi's suitcase over the railing. It landed with a thump and was soon followed by a rain of clothes as the irate Champion tossed everything that wasn't hers over the side. "Get out. I don't have a roommate."

"But I-"

"Get OUT!" Irene screamed. Seulgi was not willing to fight at this point, so she picked up her things and slowly backed out of the room, hearing the door slam shut behind her, the lock clicking into place. People were staring at her now, no doubt having heard the commotion, so with the remainder of her dignity she turned on her heels and ran.

It was a very chilly night, and she didn't remember which dorm room was Wendy's. Without a place to stay, Seulgi didn't know what to do. The kennels, Seulgi thought suddenly, as she blindly ran across campus, tears obscuring her vision. Reaching the Mightyena kennels, Seulgi tossed her belongings over the fence and climbed over, immediately getting assaulted by the huge Mightyena she had met earlier along with three of its friends.

She sniffled, and the wolfPokémon cautiously took a step forward to lick the tears off her face. "I'm sorry Mightyena but I didn't know where else to go. I brought your ball back like I promised."

The temperature dropped even further and Seulgi shivered. Her friend yipped softly and tugged on her jacket with sharp teeth, leading her to its doghouse. "Where will you stay then?"

Mightyena nudged her towards its house and she climbed in. It was a LOT smaller than her room, and covered inPokémon fur, but it was still warmer inside then it was outside. The giant wolfPokémon followed her in and curled up next to her, wrapping its body around her own and heaving a sigh. "Thank you, Mightyena," Seulgi croaked, snuggling deeper into thePokémon's fur.

She had almost fallen asleep when a sharp growl woke her up. Mightyena stirred and much to her dismat, got up to investigate a strange sound. Seulgi recognized the sound of a lock being picked and hoped it wasn't Irene. She breahed a sign of relief however when she saw that the intruder had bright silver hair, not black.

"Who's there?" she called and the figure jumped in suprise, dropping a bag of what looked like dog treats and swearing in English.

"Holy shit! Warn a girl next time, fuck!" A tall girl knelt in front of the kennel door and peered inside. "Hey, aren't you the transfer student? Kang something-or-other."

"Seulgi. Kang Seulgi. You're Moon Byulyi, aren't you?" Seulgi stammered, the cold sending a chill down her spine.

Moonbyul nodded, her eyebrows knitting with concern. "Seulgi it's freezing out here. Why aren't you in your room? Did you lose your ID?"

"No, Irene kicked me out of our room," Seulgi admitted, blowing into her cupped hands to try and keep them warm.

"Huh. So you're the person I heard Shortie screaming about earlier." Moonbyul slipped off her own jacket and handed it to Seulgi, coaxing her out of the doghouse. "Come on, let's get you inside before you get sick. I'll have a serious talk with Joohyun and make sure you have a place to stay."

Seulgi nodded and crawled out on her hands and knees, teeth chattering. Moonbyul quickly wrapped an arm around Seulgi's waist to share some body heat with her, picking up her belongings and leading her back towards Dorm One.

XXX

"Forget it, there's no way I'm sharing a room!" Irene seethed, her hand going instinctively to her belt, wishing she could call out her Ninetales and settle things with a battle. But herPokémon were already in their overnight healer and she didn't want to disturb them.

Seulgi paled at the sight of the angry Champion and backed away, clutching at her bags. Maybe Moonbyul would tell her where Wendy lived and they could be roommates. She may have put Irene on a pedestal, but if this was what she was like in real life, she'd rather share a room with an angry Granbull. Moonbyul kept a tight grip on her though and stopped her from running away.

"Joohyun, you have no right to kick out your roommate, especially when it's like fifteen degrees outside!" Moonbyul responded angrily. The silver-haired trainer was one of the few people who had the nerve to stand up against Irene. "She could have gotten hypothermia out there!"

For a second Seulgi thought Irene looked apologetic, but her expression quickly morphed back into one of anger. Seulgi whispered, "I didn't tell on you, I swear. Moonbyul found me."

"Deal with it Bae, You can't just go around kicking people out of their rooms for no reason," Moonbyul gently pried Seulgi's belongings from her and tossed it up on the second floor of the dorm. It landed with a satisfying thump. "She stays. End of discussion."

Growling under her breath, with a headache starting to blossom just behind her temples, Irene shot Seulgi a withering glance and retreated back to her space. "You better not keep me up at night."

Moonbyul stayed in the room until Seulgi had taken a hot shower and gotten into her pajamas, leaving only when Seulgi assured her that she would be okay. The Hoenn Champion left reluctanly, flipping Irene off as she left.

Despite her growing distaste for Irene, Seulgi couldn't help but smile as she climbed up the tight spiral staircase to her bed. It was only her first day here and while Irene certainly wasn't who Seulgi thought she would be, she had met more than a few good people, people like Wendy and Solar and Moonbyul. Placing her Pokéballs lovingly in their overnight holders, she unpacked the last of her clothes as quietly as she could.

What a bracing first day, Seulgi thought, digging her way under the covers and curling up into ball, hugging her Suicune plushie. Why do I get the feeling tomorrow is probably gonna be even worse?


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you okay, your lips look a little blue," Wendy asked the next morning as the two of them walked to Battlefield One for their practical class.

"I'm fine, Wendy," Seulgi replied, assuring the other girl that the slight blue tint to her lips was from the grape juice she had drunk this morning with breakfast. She had a feeling that if she told Wendy the truth she would make a bigger deal out of the whole situation. "I heard we were going to be tag battling today, do you want to be my partner?"

Wendy nodded and produced her team with a flourish. "I've got a Cinccino, Marowak, Sawsbuck, Hydreigon, Froslass and Delphox. Who do you have?"

Seulgi said nothing but sent out three of her Pokémon. Wendy's jaw dropped. Seulgi had none of the Pokémon she was expecting. Standing behind Seulgi and sending a rather menacing aura towards Wendy were a Tyranitar, Garchomp and Bewear. "Damn Seulgi, didn't know you were such a badass," she whistled.

"Which Pokémon were you expecting me to have?"

"I dunno, something a little more...friendly I guess. But these guys are so awesome-looking, you must have trained them well." Wendy was awestruck. Who knew the new girl had such powerful Pokémon on her team?

"I tried my best," Seulgi chuckled. "The rest of my team is still recovering from the long journey here, and I can't battle with my Vulpix anyway, he's just a baby. Any idea who we should battle with?"

Wendy tilted her head. "Hmmm, I'd love to see your Bewear in action with my Sawsbuck, but this is a tag battle and synergy matters. How about my Marowak and your Tyranitar? Yours has the Sand Stream ability, right?"

Seulgi nodded. "Good idea Wendy, your Marowak is immune to the damage Tyranitar's Ability causes, and it probably has Lightningrod for extra protection."

"Impressive strategic thinking, right Kang? With this pair I have no doubt we'll do well."

When class started, Wendy volunteered the two of them to go first, against her roommates Park Sooyoung and Kim Yerim. "Yeri may look small and angelic but she has some of the scariest Pokémon I've ever seen," Wendy whispered to Seulgi as the teacher drew boundary lines on the battlefield and explained the rules. " Sooyoung just enjoys training the Pokémon she likes and doesn't specialize in a type, so I can't tell you a whole lot about her strategy, but together they're a pretty dangerous pair."

"Wendy, quit flirting with the new girl, we have a battle to do!" Yeri drawled, sending out her Pokémon. A purple Pokémon with four wings and a permanent scowl on its face appeared on the field. "Let's go Crobat!"

"Tyrantrum, you're up!" Sooyoung followed her roommate's lead and called out her partner. The giant dinosaur Pokémon roared a challenge and waved its disproportionately small arms.

"It's now or never Seulgi," Wendy said, sending out her Marowak. She looked back at Seulgi and grinned. "Come on, I don't wanna lose to my roommates, I'll never hear the end of it."

"Let's do this Tyranitar!"

XXX

"Irene, you're late," Leeteuk snapped as his charge walked into the gymnasium, looking worn out and angry. "Do you have your team ready?"

Moonbyul, Solar and world renowned Pokémon breeder Jihyo were already in front of the cameras, having mostly finished their portion of the promotional shoot. Irene's father sat in the bleachers, watching his daughter intensely.

Irene didn't respond and shuffled past her mentor, her expression morphing to one of happy interest in a heartbeat. She flounced in front of the cameras next to Moonbyul and gave the other Champion a tight hug, smiling widely as the cameras began to go off. The silver-haired Trainer was still mad at Irene, but in front of the cameras and basically the entire Kalos region, they had to play up their relationship as good friends.

Everything was going well until the director called for everyone's Pokémon to come out and join in. Moonbyul, Solar and Jihyo called out their respective teams and showed them off while Irene stood off to the side, dreading what was about to come next. She couldn't go on, not without her partner by her side.

"Irene, it's your turn," the director said, beckoning her close with a wave of his hand. But instead of listening to him, Irene gave Leeteuk an apologetic look and fled the room.

I can't face the whole world again, not without Dante by my side.

XXX

"We're doing it, Seulgi, we're winning!" Wendy cheered as her Marowak cleanly dodged Crobat's Air Cutter. Their strategy was working very well so far. Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability activated, covering the entire battlefield in a storm of gritty sand. While Crobat was the only Pokémon hindered by the blowing sand, it gave their side a huge advantage.

On the other side of the field, Sooyoung was getting more and more frustrated. Every time her Tyrantrum would try and take out the Marowak with an Ice Fang, Seulgi's Tyranitar drove it back with a well-placed Brick Break. Wendy and the new girl were working together with such a tight synchronicity, stalling both Yeri and herself out and wearing their Pokémon down. This battle needed to end. Now.

"Sooyoung don't you dare do what I think you're about to do," Yeri warned her roommate. They had known each other long enough for Yeri to know that when Sooyoung got pissed, things could get dangerous. "Snap out of it, what about our plan?"

"Fuck the plan," Sooyoung replied coolly. "Tyrantrum, let's end this. Use Thrash!"

Everything seemed to slow down as the Tyrantrum looked back at its Trainer and nodded, its eyes turning bright red and zeroing in on Seulgi's Tyranitar. At this range, if the attack connected it would deal some serious damage. Wendy's eyes widened and she ordered her Marowak to rush to Tyranitar and use Protect.

Fortunately for Seulgi's Pokémon, Marowak was faster than the rampaging Pokémon and it jumped fearlessly in front of the attack, tossing the bone it carried on the field and holding out its hands to summon the protective shield. It sprang into existence just as the Tyrantrum hit, absorbing the damage. But Tyrantrum's momentum was too great, and the shield threw the enraged Pokémon to the left and towards Seulgi and Wendy.

Wendy dived out of the way, dragging Seulgi by the arm but she was a split-second too slow with her reaction. She managed to save Seulgi from getting run over by a six-hundred pound dinosaur, but the Tyrantrum's tail came up at the end and smacked Seulgi in the side, sending her flying backwards a dozen feet, where she lay motionless.

"SEULGI!"


	5. Chapter 5

All Irene wanted to do right now was go back to her dorm room and go to sleep. Anything to end this hellish day. But she knew from the moment she was crowned Champion that not a single day would pass without her being judged. She didn't know how Moonbyul and the others did it. Even just this single moment of her sitting by herself on a bench outside the gymnasium would soon be interrupted.

"Joohyun, can I talk to you for a minute?" There it was. Irene sighed deeply and turned her head to face Leeteuk. He looked worried, and GOD was she sick of people looking at her like she would break at the slightest touch.

"What?" Irene snapped, immediately regretting it. She pinched the bridge of her nose and apologized to the Champion. "I'm sorry, I just really don't want to talk right now."

Leeteuk shook his head vehemently, "But that's just it, Joohyun. We need to have a serious talk soon about everything. About Dante, your career. Look, I know these past few months have been really hard on you. Really, I understand. You're not the only person to have lost a partner before."

The Champion placed his hand gently on Irene's shoulder, and for once the raven-haired girl was too emotionally exhausted to move. "Are things ever going to get better?"

"Time heals all wounds, Joohyun. Remember that. It just might take a little longer for some of them. I'll tell you what, I'll go back in there and postpone the rest of the shoot until later, okay? Take some time off. You're back in school for the time being, focus on that instead of being a Champion. Call me if you need anything." Leeteuk got up and walked back inside, leaving Irene to her thoughts.

I really thought I was ready to do this. What the hell am I going to do now?

Almost as if on cue, her cell phone rang. Pulling the phone from her back pocket, she blanched upon reading the caller ID. There was no avoiding this call. "Father?"

On the other end of the line, Irene's father huffed with impatience. "Young lady, we need to talk right now. Joohyun, you will explain to me right now why Leeteuk is here in the gym calling off the rest of the shoot."

Irene cringed, completely forgetting that her father had been invited to watch and critique the photo shoot. After all, it was his company who sponsored the entire thing. "Father, I'm so sorry, I just can't do this right now. Please, can we talk later?"

"What aren't you telling me, Joohyun?" came two identical voices as Irene dropped her phone and faced her father.

"Nothing." She tried to plaster her coldest "Ice princess" look on her face, but failed miserably upon seeing the anger radiating off her father in waves. "I wasn't feeling well and I asked him to postpone it on my behalf."

Well, at least that was partly true.

"Bae Joohyun, my company has spent a lot of money financing your post-Champion career and rise to fame. If I say you're to participate in a promotional shoot, you WILL do so no matter if you're ill or not!" he yelled.

Irene scoffed, "Please, Father, you only jumped on my bandwagon once it became obvious that I was going places. I believe it took you until after I beat the eighth gym leader for you to even acknowledge me as a Trainer."

Irene's father stood shell-shocked for a moment before slapping his daughter across the face.

Irene barely registered the stinging pain as he slapped her, leaving an angry red welt on her cheek. Her eyes filled with tears but to her credit she did not let them fall. Instead, the raven-haired Trainer just stared at her father with cold brown eyes and called Garm, her Aegislash, who placed itself between girl and father. It lunged menacingly at her father, who took a fearful step back.

He backed away, knowing when he was outnumbered, especially by one of the strongest Pokémon in the Kalos region. "Don't let it happen again," he growled, retreating to the parking lot. "Or the next time I won't be as understanding."

As he disappeared, Irene sank down on the bench, her whole body shaking with a combination of rage and fear. Despite her deteriorating relationship with her father, he was right about one thing. He DID control her and her career. She was only useful to her sponsors as long as she continued to do well. If she outlived her usefulness she would find herself in a precarious position.

Garm hovered next to his Trainer, and gently headbutted Irene, earning a small smile in return. "Thanks Garm."

Their silence was soon broken again by a commotion over by the battlefields. A minute later she saw Wendy and her roommates (Sooyoung and Yerim? she thought) rush by her, followed closely by a Marowak and an unfamiliar Tyranitar. Her heart dropped when she saw that Wendy and Sooyoung were supporting someone in between them, the two girls looking unnaturally worried.

Irene managed to catch a glimpse of the injured student, and she frowned. Kang Seulgi. The three Trainers ran in the direction of the infirmary, and perhaps against her better judgement, she stood up to follow them.

There's something about this Seulgi girl that I just can't seem to get out of my head.

XXX

"Seulgi? Seulgi? Come on dude, wake up!" Seulgi groaned in pain, opening her eyes. Sooyoung's lithe frame leaned over her as she looked at the other girl with concern. "Seulgi? Oh thank Arceus, you're awake."

"What happened?" Seulgi wheezed, slowly levering herself into an upright position. Her ribs were killing her, and she felt almost as if a small car had run into her at full tilt. Suddenly the memories all came rushing back. The tag battle. Sooyoung's Tyrantrum going beserk. Sooyoung. "Damn, Sooyoung your Pokémon really packs a punch."

Wendy shoved Sooyoung out of the way and hugged Seulgi tightly, letting up only when the brunette winced in pain. "Sorry," she quickly apologized. "I was so worried that I didn't pull you far enough out of harm's way."

"I'm fine, Seungwan," Seulgi told the other girl, laying one hand on her shoulder reassuringly and steadfastly ignoring the growing ache in her side. "I may be in need of some pain medication for the next few days, but believe me, as a Trainer I've had worse."

"Well I definitely concur with that, Miss Kang," the school nurse said as she walked in, carrying a thick patient file to Seulgi's bedside. Lee Ji-eun leaned down next to Seulgi and began taking her vitals. "I take it you've had quite the adventure over the years. I count no less than a dozen remodeled fractures and judging by the sheer size of the file I've received from your previous school, you're no stranger to pain."

Wendy looked at Seulgi with a newfound respect. And perhaps something else. "Damn, what did you do?"

"I take a more hands-on approach to training my Pokémon. Back in Alola, I'd regularly travel to Mount Hokulani and hike with my Tyranitar and Bewear to train them"

The nurse tutted in disapproval and gently pushed Wendy out of the way so she could examine the rapidly darkening bruise on Seulgi's side. "Usually I'd recommend not doing things of that nature anymore, but I doubt you'd listen to me at this point."

Seulgi smiled, "You're absolutely right ma'am. I take my relationship with my team very seriously."

"This time you were lucky, Miss Kang. My tests aren't showing anything abnormal aside from bruising, you probably just passed out from the shock of getting hit. If you must insist on continuing with your training methods, I highly recommend adding some vitamin supplements to your diet to combat any future injuries." Ji-eun placed two pill bottles on the beside next to Seulgi.

"What are those for?" Wendy asked.

"Just because Miss Kang's x-ray didn't turn up anything of concern doesn't mean I'm not concerned. These are some pain medications, to help with the soreness you're soon to feel thanks to getting tossed around by a fully-grown Tyrantrum."

Sooyoung bit her lip sheepishly, "Have I mentioned how super sorry I am, Seulgi?"

Seulgi smiled and reached out to Sooyoung, taking her hand. "I've already told you, I'll be fine. I appreciate you and Yeri's concern for me."

Ji-eun rounded on Sooyoung and shook her finger at the younger student. "As for you Miss Park, the head of Student Affairs has asked that you meet her in the office to discuss disciplinary measures for your thoughtless actions."

Sooyoung nodded solemnly and turned to walk away, pausing for a moment to look at Seulgi over her shoulder. "Of course, I'll be off then. Feel better, Seulgi! Oh, and I think you've earned the right to call me Joy, it's the least I can do after today. Come on Yeri."

The two roommates left the infirmary, and Wendy made to follow them but was stopped by the nurse. "Miss Son, if you'll escort Seulgi back to her dorm room, I'd be appreciative. I've already called ahead to your next class to excuse your tardiness." Back on the nurse's desk, a cell phone beeped cheerily and Ji-eun picked it up, reading the message. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've just gotten word that a student in the breeding program got on the wrong side of a mother Hydreigon and has sustained some minor burns. Have a good rest of the day, you two."

She hurried out to greet the injured student, leaving Wendy and Puck alone in the room. "You ready to go, Seulgi?"

"Absolutely. You don't have to walk me back to my room if you don't want to, Seungwan. I can manage on my own."

"No offense, Seul but there's no way in hell I'm letting you out of my sight for the rest of the day. Joy and I didn't carry you all the way across campus just to see you get hurt again." Wendy offered her hand and Seulgi took it gratefully. "Shall we, oh grand ruler?"

Seulgi couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Wendy's antics. "We shall, my faithful knight."

XXX

Irene witnessed the entire scene unfold from the curtained area to the left of Seulgi's bed. Originally she had berated herself for even bothering to check on her roommate, after all it wasn't as if they were friends or anything.

She's definitely a spitfire, that's for sure.

Irene was awed at Seulgi's apparent resilience and her dedication to training. Maybe she shouldn't have been so hasty with kicking Seulgi out of the room. Hell, even Moonbyul had yelled at her last night with a fury usually only reserved for those who talked badly about Solar. There was something special about Kang Seulgi that both frustrated Irene and made her whole body tingle with an excitement she hadn't felt for a long time.

I'll let her stay...for now.

True to her word when Irene finally returned to her room after another exhausting day, she didn't even bother to look up at the balcony to see if Seulgi was there. Dropping her backpack next to her desk and briefly touching the picture of Dante that was taped to the wall, she sat down to finish her homework before bed. Thirty minutes and twenty-two increasingly difficult strategy questions later, she tossed her pencil down and shuffled to their shared bathroom to put on her pajamas, finally collapsing in bed and turning off the lights.

Irene's dreams that night made her toss and turn in her bed. She had been having the same nightmare at least twice a week ever since Dante died.

Rain was falling in torrents as Irene silently exited the car, a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a worn-out medal in the other. To think, twenty-four hours ago, she was hugging her beloved Pokémon and watching him start to recover from his illness, a toothy smile on his face. Now she would never see the twinkle in his eyes that was reserved only for her.

She had met Dante as a Charmander and through long hours of training and battling had evolved him into a powerful Charizard. They had been through hell and high water together and now he was gone. But Irene refused to cry. Dante wouldn't want his Trainer to cry today. He'd want her to celebrate his short but well-lived life. Together they had set out to do the impossible and had succeeded. Dante had died knowing that they had been victorious.

Despite her resolve, tears slowly began rolling down Irene's cheeks as she approached a silver plaque affixed to a stone tablet. Her friends and fellow Champions Moon Byulyi and Kim Yongsun stood off to one side, holding each other tightly and watching as their friend placed the flowers next to Dante's plaque and hung the rain-soaked Champion's medal from a hook.

They had made one last journey together as a team, from Kalos to Kanto. From Vaniville town to Lavender Town. Irene let her five remaining Pokémon and sent everyone else away, save for Moonbyul and Solar. The tears flowing freely now, she rested a shaking hand on Dante's grave a screamed, a raw primal cry of pain. Her Pokémon huddled next to her and provided whatever comfort they could as they watched their Trainer fall apart.

But tonight something different entered her dream, something not quite so sad. A melodic voice, quiet at first, began eating away at the bad dream, filling Irene with a different kind of emotion. She felt peace, and for the briefest of moments, joy as the rain stopped and the barest hint of light peeked out from behind Lavender Tower. She sighed and the nightmare melted away as she sank further into slumber, finally calm for the rest of the night.

Irene woke the next morning feeling more rested than she had in weeks. Blinking blearily she rolled over on her side to check the time and froze when she felt an unfamiliar pressure stopping her from moving further.

"Seulgi?"

XXX

Seulgi honestly didn't know what woke her up, but all that mattered was that her ribs were killing her and the soft cries that echoed throughout the room were not hers.

Tiptoeing down the spiral staircase as quietly as she could, she slipped into the bathroom to pour herself a glass of water and to take another pain pill. Seulgi lifted up her top and winced when she material dragged over the dark bruise that stretched from her belly button to her ribcage.

Damn, remind me never to get on Joy's bad side.

She'd had worse though, so she sighed and made to return to bed, but stopped in her tracks when she heard another muted cry. Even though a huge part of her brain was screaming at her to not take another step and to let sleeping dogs lie, she couldn't help herself and ended up standing over Irene's bed and staring as the Champion tossed and turned in the grip of what was obviously a bad dream.

"Irene?" she whispered, gently shaking the girl's shoulder. Irene didn't wake, and even seemed to get more agitated by the slight contact. For a moment Seulgi debated raiding the Champion's overnight healer to release one of her Pokémon but thought better of it once she realized that her Pokémon probably wouldn't take lightly to a stranger calling them out.

So instead she just did what she could in the moment, grabbing her desk chair and sitting down next to Irene's bed, taking the girl's hand in her own.

XXX

"What are you doing?" Irene asked Seulgi, still dumbstruck as she looked at their intertwined fingers.

"I am so sorry," Seulgi blustered, quickly disengaging and shooting Irene an apologetic look. "I must have passed out after taking my pain meds."

Arching one perfect eyebrow, Irene quickly gauged the distance from the bathroom to their beds. "So you took your medication, somehow walked over here and took my hand before passing out?"

Sheepishly running a hand through her hair, Seulgi nodded, biting her bottom lip. "Now that you put it that way it does seem a little implausible."

They sat in a semi-uncomfortable silence until Seulgi's alarm clock went off, surprising them both. Seulgi stood up with a barely suppressed groan of pain to turn the offending item off, but before she could reach the stairs, Irene got out of bed and beat her to it.

"Thanks, I kind of took a beating yesterday in class."

"I heard about it, are you okay? Did you really get hit by a Tyrantrum?" Irene tried to play it off like she didn't know all about Seulgi's mishap.

Lifting up her shirt to show Irene the bruise, she smiled bravely. "I've had worse."

Irene found herself flustered as the younger girl casually lifted up her shirt. Trying to hide what she was sure was a red face, she said "So...uh I should probably get ready for class. I have an early-morning breeding seminar."

Taking her leave, Irene shut herself in the bathroom and braced herself on the sink. Her heart was hammering and she didn't know why. Putting any and all thoughts of Seulgi to the back of her mind, she turned on the sink and splashed water on her face.

Seulgi knocked on the door, "Irene are you, uh gonna be much longer? I'd like to take a shower before breakfast."

Irene quickly had to quash the sudden flood of thoughts of Seulgi in the shower. What on earth was happening to her? "I'll be right out."

True to her word, exactly one minute later she breezed out of the room and past Seulgi. Irene could only hope that her roommate didn't see the slight smile on her face.


	6. Chapter 6

Leeteuk rolled into his office at ten o'clock on the dot and stopped in his tracks when he saw someone sitting in one of his chairs. He checked his phone to make sure he didn't have an appointment.

"Hi, can I help you-" he asked, freezing mid-sentence. "Hyuna? What are you doing here?"

Moonbyul's mentor and current Hoenn Champion shot him a winning smile and stood up to embrace him. "I was in the region checking on Moonbyul and decided to stop by. I'm sorry, did you have an appointment?"

Leeteuk shook his head. "I'm free for a few hours. It's just such a surprise to see you, what about the League challengers in your region?"

"Ever since Moonbyul beat me, no one's really been brave enough to challenge the Elite Four. People seem to either be scared of her or want her to marry them. Byul has gotten many letters from people asking her to 'step on them'." Hyuna shuddered.

"Ah, I get it. What are you going to do with your free time then?"

"I thought I'd see to my current charge, head over to Kiloude City to check out the Battle Maison, and just relax for a bit. I'd also like to talk to you about something, Teuk."

Leeteuk recognized Hyuna's serious voice and sat down. "It's about Joohyun, isn't it?"

"Look, I completely understand wanting to increase your Champion's reputation. Especially post-championship. But when we heard about Dante, I wondered if introducing her back into the world of competitive battling was a good decision."

He sighed, "Believe me, I've been asking myself the same question ever since I got that phone call. I've tried to keep her mind off Dante by throwing her back into work but I can see it's not really helping. Tell me, Hyuna, how did you approach this with Moonbyul? I haven't had a Champion to work with for ages."

"I listen to them. Joohyun might not be much for talking right now but keep her going. Like it or not, she respects the hell out of you, and she listens more closely to your words than you think. Sometimes I envy the relationship you two have. When Moonbyul gets mad she starts swearing and I have to call Solar to get her to calm down."

They laughed, and Leeteuk smiled at Hyuna. "Thank you for the advice, my friend. How about we go for a coffee, my treat?"

Hyuna stood up and gathered her purse. "Always. You know I've heard good things about the coffee in the Kalos Region..."

XXX

"Alright losers, listen up. The dorm competition is right around the corner," Moonbyul said, addressing the heads of the other two dorms, Kang Daniel, Kim Yongsun, Im Nayeon and Park Jihyo. Her own co-head, a boy named Namjoon, was serving detention for breaking one of the school's laptops. "We need to set the terms for this semester's winner."

Jihyo ignored her entirely and continued filing her nails. Jihyo was one of the two heads of Dorm Three, and a very talented breeder whosePokémon had ended up in multiple champion teams. While she wasn't the best with battle strategy, the sheer talent herPokémon possessed made her a tough opponent. After the previous dorm head was suspended for cheating in last year's competition she had taken up the reins to massive success. "What makes you think you're going to win again this semester, Byul?"

"Jihyo," Kang Daniel chided, shooting his girlfriend a glare. "Our dorms both lost fair and square last time, let's not bring up old memories." Daniel led Dorm Two along with Moonbyul's girlfriend Solar. The two of them were a creative force to be reckoned with. Daniel blew through his region's contest circuit undefeated, becoming only the eighth coordinator to do so. With Solar as his co-head Dorm Two were looking like very strong contenders for the competition.

"Bad memories, Daniel? Moonbyul threw a PIE in my face," Nayeon hissed, unconsciously patting her hair. Where Jihyo was a highly successful breeder, Nayeon had made a name for herself through her incredible dedication to breeding shinyPokémon, a rare occurrence in which aPokémon was born with a different coloring than normal. Shiny breeding had somewhat of a bad reputation, since the market was filled with irresponsible breeders who would abandonPokémon when they weren't born shiny. Nayeon aimed to change the industry into a force for good.

"Those were the terms, Nayeon," Moonbyul sighed, chuckling at the memory. "Losers get shanked with pie. Besides, at least I remembered to toss your favorite flavor in your face."

Nayeon lunged at Moonbyul, who jumped back quickly, smile still on her face. Solar shot her girlfriend a reproving glare. "I can never eat lemon meringue pie again thanks to you!"

"Would the two of you stop it?" Jihyo shouted, grabbing her friend around the waist and hauling her backwards. "Save the animosity for the competition, okay? We're only here to discuss terms."

"Fine," Nayeon huffed. "What are we betting?"

Moonbyul cleared her throat and passed two pieces of paper to her rival captains. "I put together a list of of most wanted resources and privileges that our dorms would likely want."

"Winner gets exclusive access to the Main Dining Hall?" Daniel's eyes widened. "Where will the rest of us eat?"

Solar blanched. "NO! Absolutely not, Byul."

"Come on babe, eating there isn't THAT bad," Moonbyul tried to give Solar her cutest look but failed miserably.

"Losers have to eat at the taco truck down by the South Commons." Jihyo resisted the urge to gag a little. The taco truck was the alternate source of food for students who had classes near the outskirts of campus and was manned by the most foul-mouthed old man you would ever meet. The food was edible, but only barely. Even Moonbyul herself bowed down to him. "You wouldn't understand, Daniel. You transferred here last semester after our punishment ended."

Nayeon pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of the man in question. "He's a despicable human being. Last year he got caught trying to put bug spray in the nacho cheese dispenser and nearly got fired."

Daniel looked horrified. "Nearly? He should have been arrested, how is that okay? Someone could have gotten poisoned!"

"Politics," Solar cut in. "No one else is willing to step up and take on the massive workload he has to deal with. Besides, his brother is on the Board of Directors here. He got slapped with a heavy fine and a campus guard to watch his every move, but people still have to eat."

Daniel read through the fine print on the list of demands. "Yeah but Moonbyul, Jihyo told me last year people only had to eat there for a month, this says dining rights for the rest of the semester! That's twice as long!"

"Damn straight," the Champion replied. "What? You afraid you're gonna lose?"

Jihyo looked across the table at the other captains and after a minute of intense debate they turned back to face Moonbyul. "We'll do it."

"Great," Moonbyul produced four pens out of nowhere, as if she knew her challenge would be accepted, and tossed one to each of the other dorm heads. "Sign on the dotted line to agree, Namjoon and I have already done it. Then we'll see everyone tomorrow on the battlefield."

Solar, Daniel, Jihyo and Nayeon hastily scribbled their signatures on the paper and took photo proof on the other documents so no one could back out. Daniel grinned, "Just you wait Moonbyul, this year the Coordinators will come out on top."

"No way, the Breeders will have our revenge this year," Jihyo promised as she gathered up her school things and left, dragging Nayeon along behind her, who flipped everyone off over her shoulder.

Moonbyul didn't look the least bit intimidated. "Good luck trying. Remember, this semester we have Irene on our team."

Everyone else gulped.

XXX

The bell rang throughout the Academy, signaling the last period of the school day.

Seulgi gently pulled her gym shirt on, mindful of her injury as she got ready for gym class. She liked that the Academy demanded that both Trainers andPokémon work equally hard to maintain peak physical condition. Her old school in Alola didn't have nearly the facilities that the Kalos Academy had, though she had compensated for the lack of resources there by going for a run every morning.

Part of the reason she had been accepted into the Academy was thanks to her Track and Field experience. She was a natural runner and she personally made sure to never fall behind on her practice if she could help it. Bouncing out of the women's locker room, she jogged onto the football field.

Waving hello to some of the other battlers, she began to run through her warm-ups while the rest of the class trickled in. Gym was a mixed-dorm class, but she spotted some familiar faces and was overjoyed to see Wendy, Joy and Yeri walking toward her.

"Hey guys!" she called them over. Wendy looked a little out of sorts, as if gym was the last place she wanted to be. Yeri smacked her lightly upside the head and she shook her head, bright smile returning to her face.

"Hey Seulgi. Glad to see you're looking a lot better than yesterday," Wendy said. "I don't know how you're able to be so active, I hate gym class. NoPokémon battles, no excitement, just sweat and pain."

"You don't seem to hate it when the girls get all hot and sweaty and-" Yeri joked, the rest of her statement being cut off when Joy slapped her hand over her mouth.

"Ignore her," Joy responded. Seulgi giggled and the four of them dissolved into conversation until the teacher arrived.

Their unit this week was body conditioning, and the first exercise was running a 100-meter time trial. Seulgi was called up first, along with Yeri, a boy named Yugyeom and Taeyong.

Oh crap. Taeyong looks like he's still mad about the whole tennis ball situation.

Seulgi tried to grab the inside lane, far away from Taeyong but he switched spots with Yugyeom in order to run next to her. He smirked menacingly at her. They waited with bated breath until the instructor set off the starting gun. Seulgi surged forward, taking the lead in front of everyone else.

Her long legs gave her an advantage, and she was approaching the finish line with Yugyeom and Taeyong right behind her. Yeri had given up partway through and was jogging to the finish line at her own pace. Seulgi felt a foreboding sense of doom and noticed Taeyong had caught up to her. He feigned a fall a few meters from the finish line and crashed into her with all his weight.

Seulgi felt rather than heard as her body hit the track, thankfully on her uninjured side. She was pretty sure her ankle had gotten sprained as well. Regretting ever having taken Taeyong's challenge she just laid on the on the track while Wendy and her roommates rushed over to her.

"This is for the tennis ball," she heard Taeyong whisper as he walked past with his boys.

"Damn, what did you do to piss off Taeyong?" Joy asked, helping Seulgi to her feet and passing her off to Wendy who looked at her with concern.

"It's not my fault! He told me about some bullshit challenge but he didn't expect me to win. I made him look like an idiot in front of the class, and I may have also thrown a tennis ball in his face..." Seulgi blinked. "Actually, yeah, this is my fault."

Wendy frowned as she felt Seulgi wilt slightly in her arms. She tilted Seulgi's face towards her and hissed in sympathy when she saw a small gash over her right eye. Seulgi must have hit some gravel when she fell. Calling the instructor over, Wendy asked for permission to escort Seulgi to the nurse.

"Wendy? I feel dizzy and why are there two of you?" Maybe Seulgi had hit her head too...

"Come on Seul, let's get you back to the nurse. She's probably making good money now that she's got you to fix up."

XXX

"Miss Son, I'm beginning to think you're blowing off class on purpose," the nurse tutted in disapproval, taking Seulgi from Wendy. "That or you're a seriously bad luck charm for Miss Kang here."

Seulgi collapsed on the pallet and waited patiently for Ji-Eun to gather her wound-cleaning supplies. "She's not a bad luck charm, I swear. I've never had the best luck in the world, as my patient file can clearly tell you."

"I can see that now. Miss Son, why don't you return to class? Miss Kang is in very capable hands here." She shooed Wendy out of the room and began to clean the wound by Seulgi's eye.

"I'll see you later, Seulgi!" Wendy called from the doorway. "Try not to kill yourself on the way back to the dorm, it'd be a damn shame to lose someone so pretty!"

Seulgi's face turned pink at the compliment. She tried to wave off the nurse as the woman fussed over her condition, and satisfied that her wound was superficial, she finished bandaging the gash and told Seulgi to stay here for at least an hour to rest.

Seulgi was glad for the reprieve, so she tucked her feet beneath her and settled down to take a nap. She was about to drift off to sleep when she heard the nurse talking to another student in hushed tones.

"Miss Bae, can I help you with something?"

"I think something's wrong with me."


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, let's not get _too_ hasty here, Miss Bae. I'll be back once I get your file."

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Irene nodded and walked over to one of the empty pallets. It had required nearly all her self-control to step into the office, and to be honest, most of her just wanted to leave.

Irene had always been the kind of girl to go at it alone, to never ask for help. It had taken her years of being a Trainer to come to the realization that she didn't have to be alone. She'd made friends, both human and Pokémon. People like Moonbyul and Solar, and it killed her to not be able to go to them.

_Whoa there, Irene, stop over-analyzing this. You miss Dante, these feelings are normal. So why does it feel like I'm falling apart inside?_

Irene's thoughts were interrupted as the nurse came back clutching her folder.

"Miss Bae, you've certainly been through a lot these past few months. How have you been dealing with Dante's death?"

The Champion scoffed, "Peachy. I became Champion and then lost my best friend."

"_Irene."_

"What do you want me to say, doc? A part of me died that day along with him, and I haven't felt the same since. Hell, I can't even make myself go through with a simple photo-shoot because I know he isn't there. I keep reliving the memory of that awful phone call, when they told me my starter was dying. And every time I think things might be getting better, I freeze and wonder perhaps things _aren't _meant to."

The nurse listened patiently, pausing only to scribble down a few notes. "Miss Bae, I don't think anything's wrong with you. Losing a Pokémon is never an easy thing to experience. Considering the connection you shared with that Charizard, I can see where you're coming from."

Irene already regretted telling the nurse that much. "What do you propose I do about it then? My father's been nagging me to get back in the game. To him I'm just a cash cow, I'm not his daughter."

Clucking in disapproval, Ji-eun laid down her pen. "You need to let the grieving process take place. The entire region sees you as a celebrity, the Champion of the Kalos region, and I'm starting to think that's how you see yourself. You're human, Irene, and it's okay to feel sad. It's okay to feel angry. And it's okay to cry."

The Champion's entire body seemed to collapse inward on itself as she hung her head. Her voice broke slightly as she stood up. "Thank you. I need to think about…well, everything. I definitely needed to hear that. If you don't mind I'm…gonna head out."

As she left, feet shuffling slowly away, Ji-eun watched her go with concern. _She'll eventually pull through, I can see her strength. It'll take time though, and I hope she's able to realize that._

From her pallet only a few feet away from the desk, Seulgi silently wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

XXX

By the time Seulgi got back to her dorm room, night had fallen. With a slight limp to her step, and a backpack full of homework, she staggered inside and shut the door, dumping her things on her desk and collapsing in her chair.

"Maybe I should just tape a sign to my back that says: Caution, Walking Disaster," she grumbled.

Seulgi looked over her shoulder and saw that Irene was already asleep. _Guess I'll have to continue my complaining tomorrow._

She thought about walking over to ask the Champion about what she had overheard in the nurse's office but decided against it. It wasn't her place to pry, especially on a private conversation. But since Irene was asleep…

"Irene?" There was no response from the Champion, which she took as an invitation to continue. "Irene, you know it's okay to be sad about your partner. You feel hollow inside, as if something's been torn out. I…I should know, I lost a partner myself, long ago. It'll get better, I swear."

She jumped back in surprise when the covers shifted and a rather upset Irene growled at her. "Seulgi. Were you spying on my private conversation with the nurse earlier?"

Busted. "Uh…it's not my fault. I was in gym and then Taeyong was all aggressive, and then my ankle twisted and there's a gash over my eye and…yes. Yes I listened in."

Seulgi could tell that it was taking all of Irene's self-control not to leap out of bed and smack her. "You should know better than to listen in on private conversations."

"Are you going to kick me out again?"

Irene sighed heavily, looking like she was going to seriously consider the idea. "Moonbyul would likely kill me, she seems to have taken a liking to you. So no, I won't kick you out, but can you just….get out of here for a while? I need to be alone."

_Well that's progress. _Seulgi nodded, and grabbed her jacket, thankful that at least this time she had a bed to come back to. She could always rush through her homework during breakfast. As she reached for the doorknob, she turned around, "Irene, I apologize for intruding on your privacy like that, it won't happen again."

XXX

Seulgi looked up at the stars as she walked down the school's main road, past the outdoor arenas and contest stages. At least her roommate hadn't kicked her out again. She realized that spying had been wrong, but in her defense she thought the Champion was asleep. _Oh well, the least I can do is give her some time._

Happy that she had made some progress with the prickly champion, she smiled. Small steps, Seulgi, small steps.

"Seulgi? What are you doing out here?" The brunette shook herself out of her thoughts about Irene and looked over to see Wendy jogging up to meet her. "Ice Princess didn't kick you out again, did she?"

Seulgi couldn't help but smile when she saw her friend's angry expression. "No, she didn't kick me out. But I thought it would be good if I just gave her some alone time before I headed back."

Wendy's features softened and he fell into step next to the diva. "Good. If she had kicked you out, I would've gone to Moonbyul."

"I appreciate it Wendy, but I left on my own accord. Irene and I are…getting there. I never expected it to be easy."

They walked for a few moments in amicable silence, enjoying the chilly weather. "Hey, Seul, I have a question for you."

"What's on your mind?"

Wendy thought for a moment about what she wanted to ask her new friend. She already knew she was a hell of a Trainer, and tough despite all the recent injuries. Hell, she was even nice to people who didn't deserve her kindness. Wendy just wanted to get to know her better. "What made you decide to come to the Kalos Academy? I hear the one you went to in Alola was just as good."

Seulgi tilted her head, considering Wendy's question. "I guess I wanted to experience something new. The Alola Academy was amazing, no question about that. But when I first stepped foot onto the Kalos grounds, something just clicked. It felt like I needed to be here. It hasn't been easy, with Irene and Taeyeong, but it's the others I've met, like you, Yeri, Joy, Moonbyul and Solar that have made it better."

Wendy grinned, and wrapped an arm around Seulgi's shoulders, bringing the taller girl in for a hug. "Good, glad I could make this place a little brighter. I haven't met many people who take me as I am, especially once they learn I'm the daughter of an Elite Four member. It's like they see the title and legacy I hold before they see me."

"Well all I see is someone I'm glad to call my first friend here at the Academy." Seulgi's phone buzzed and she looked at it to see a short message from Irene. "I should head back now, maybe I'll get a bit of my work done before I head to bed. Thank you for walking with me."

"Anytime, Seulgi, anytime. If Irene does give you any more trouble, don't hesitate to let me know. I may be short but so is she and I'm not afraid to kick her ass." Wendy watched as Seulgi waved to her before heading back to her dorm. Reaching into her own jacket to check her phone, she decided to follow the other girl's lead and go back home.

_Ooh, I hope Yeri saved me some of those nachos from dinner. I wonder if Seulgi likes nachos. _Oh no. No. Bad Seungwan.

_Seulgi's cute, and tough, and an awesome Trainer. I wonder where she met her Bewear, it's a massive Pokémon. _Wait, we only just met. Do I really like her that much?

Wendy groaned and shuffled back to her room to beg Yeri for any leftover nachos. Great, I think I like Kang Seulgi.

XXX

Seulgi quietly opened the door and took off her jacket and shoes, padding softly to her loft and climbing into bed. Forget homework, she could always do it in the morning. She could hear Irene's soft breathing from below her and smiled.

_She's kind of mean, but I can see that in her heart she's kind. She's also rather pretty, prettiest girl I think I've ever seen, and she's the Kalos Champion. _She blinked.

Oh no. No.

Seulgi turned over in bed, feeling mortified. Great, I think I like Bae Joohyun.

XXX

The last thing Seulgi wanted was her breakfast interrupted. She had slept well the night before but had gotten up before Irene so she could get her work done. Thankful that the main dining hall opened extremely early so as to accommodate those with zero period classes and clubs, she was able to grab a bite to eat while she settled down to do her work.

She had a breeding class today, which she was excited about. Though she had chosen the battling track at the Academy, all students were required to be proficient in Coordination and Breeding as well. She had just started on the last of her work when she heard someone slide into the chair next to her.

"I hope that, whoever you are, you wouldn't mind me throwing hot coffee in your face. I'd like to get my homework done before class."

"Excuse me miss, my sources say you are Irene's roommate. I'm a reporter for the KNN, the Kalos News Network. Do you have anything to say about the rumors concerning our beloved Champion's severe depression?"

Seulgi's eyes widened as she looked up at the person across the table from her, thoroughly appalled that someone would even dare to ask those kinds of questions. The first thought that flew through her mind was that she really should have thrown her coffee at the reporter.

_But that would be a waste of perfectly good coffee._

She composed her expression so as to not give any emotion away. "I don't know who you are and quite frankly, I don't care. But you've interrupted my perfectly good morning with your bullshit. Whatever rumors you may have heard concerning my roommate are best taken up with the girl herself. And I get the feeling she'll be even less accommodating than I am. Now please leave before I make you, I have class in twenty minutes."

The reporter scowled, but took a step back. He knew better than to mess with an Academy kid. They may look young, but most of them had already accomplished more than someone twice their age, with incredibly strong teams.

"I…apologize, miss. Enjoy your breakfast. Here. My card, should you change your mind." Miffed that he didn't get the scoop he was looking for, he was about to give up when someone whispered something to him as he passed.

"If you want information about Irene, you should talk to me. Make it worth my while and we'll both win."

"And who might you be, young man?"

The boy grinned. "Name's Taeyong."

XXX

Sitting at the café across the street from his hotel, Irene's father was busy perusing his tablet, specifically at one of the Society blogs the local news network ran, and drinking a diet soda when he saw the story.

"WHAT?!"

Throwing his tablet at the wall, he grabbed his cell phone and punched in his daughter's number. No matter how many rumors circulated about his daughter, he had to make sure they were quelled before his company's reputation got ruined. He brought Irene to his superiors in the first place and if any of the rumors turned out to be true, then it would be his ass on the line.

XXX

"Father, why are you calling, I don't have class for another three hours." Irene muttered, still half-asleep. But she bolted upright when he began yelling obscenities at her. Quickly glancing upward to make sure Seulgi had indeed left for her morning class, she grabbed her keys and her Pokémon and walked outside. The sun had barely risen, casting a pale glow on the grounds of the Academy. Irene thought it was beautiful, though it was immediately soured with her father pounding her with question after question. "No, I'm not circling the drain, and I certainly haven't been turning to drugs. Father, calm down! These are rumors, nothing more."

The Champion heard her father breathe heavily on the other line, and she knew from experience that he was about to launch into yet another one of his long-winded tirades. Not wanting to hear it, she was about to press the 'mute' button on her phone when the first sentence out of his mouth made her freeze mid-stride. "The media is buzzing about how you're one step away from committing suicide, what with your crippling depression and all."

"What?" _No, that was impossible. _She had only told two people about her concerns, the school nurse and Seulgi. The nurse was under a strict confidentiality contract, but her roommate…

Irene flashed back to earlier. She had been picking up some of her roommate's leftover things off the floor, with the intention of returning them as an apology. Her roommate had gone to her breeding class, changing out of her normal outfit and putting on the uniform all Breeders were required to wear when working with Pokémon. As she was picking up a pair of Seulgi's jeans, something fell out of one of the back pockets. Intrigued, she unfolded what looked like a business card and blanched upon noticing the familiar insignia on the right-hand corner.

_What? Is this what I think it is?_

Shaking her head to return to the present, Irene decided in the heat of the moment to throw her father off her trail. "No, I have no idea who came up with that ridiculous story. No doubt someone trying to catch their fifteen minutes of fame by riding on my coattails."

"Hmph, well we'll be launching an investigation nevertheless. The last thing both of us need is another rumor making the rounds." Irene could hear the barely disguised frustration in her father's voice, and she finally muted her end of the call so she could sigh in relief.

For the life of her, she didn't know why she didn't just reveal her roommate's treachery. _Because I don't want my father to get my hands on her._

Or maybe it was because there was a part of her that didn't fully believe that Seulgi would do something like that to her.

XXX

"Hey everybody, and welcome to the next elective unit on breeding," Park Jihyo smiled and set down her teaching supplies on the desk at the front of the classroom, pulling out three Pokéballs from the bag. With a flourish, she released two Gardevoir and one Ralts, who materialized in front of the class. "Now I'm sure many of you are familiar with basic breeding techniques but just in case, I'm going to review everything."

Seulgi opened her notebook and got ready to take notes. Breeding may not have been her forte, but she was still interested in it.

"I didn't sign up for a _basic_ breeding class," one tall brown-haired boy drawled, collecting his things and making to leave. "My parents are paying good money for me to attend this school, and I already know about basic breeding."

Jihyo didn't bat an eyelash, and gestured to the door, "I'm not gonna make you stay Mark, but leaving this class will result in an automatic fail, and correct me if I am mistaken, but your parents probably wouldn't be too happy about that, now would they?"

Seulgi gaped at Jihyo's bluntness. _She seemed so sweet when Moonbyul was talking about her earlier…_

"No ma'am," the boy named Mark gulped visibly and returned to his seat.

"Anyways, you all know that in order to produce an egg, a Trainer needs a few things. They need one Pokémon of each gender, or in special cases, one Pokémon and a Ditto. If you're planning on breeding a Pokémon for a certain role, like a physical or special attacker, you'll need for the parents who share those traits."

Jihyo pointed at each of the Gardevoir in turn, and stuck a piece of paper in front of the two Fairy-Types, which detailed their stats.

"These two Gardevoir are from the Academy's stock, and both of them were trained as special attackers. This little Ralts here is their child."

Seulgi had to restrain herself from squealing at the baby Pokémon. She fondly remembered when one of her friends raised a Ralts into a Gardevoir. But something about that Ralts didn't seem quite right.

"Ms. Park? Why is that Ralts blue? I thought they were green."

Jihyo smiled, "Glad you noticed, Ms…?"

"Kang. Kang Seulgi.

"That's because this baby Ralts is a Shiny Pokémon." The entire class gasped and leaned forward in their seats. Everyone knew how rare a shiny Pokémon was, and those few Trainers at the Academy that had a shiny Pokémon were considered very lucky. "I know, I know, they're really rare. And this little guy is going to be your motivator for the rest of the class. From now until the end of the term, I'm turning this class into kind of a competition."

Everyone stared at the young breeder.

"Ms. Park, if this is to be a competition, is there going to be a prize?"

"Of course. At the end of the term, before we head out for winter break, I'll tally up who has the best grades in the class. The winner will get this little Ralts here, bred by none other than my fellow dorm captain Im Nayeon."

For the rest of class, hardly anyone paid attention, choosing instead to watch as the little Ralts walked around the room and greeted everyone, watched carefully by his parents. As the bell rang, the shiny Ralts was scooped into his parent's arms before the students all made the mad rush to the door.

Seulgi in particular was excited. She'd never seen a shiny Pokémon up close before and was more determined than ever to rise above the rest of the students. _Imagine if I win, I'd have a shiny Pokémon on my team!_

XXX

Seulgi had managed to get through another day of classes at the Academy, and this time she hadn't hurt herself in the process. _Progress._

To top off her relatively good day, she realized that tomorrow was the first dorm competition, and that all normal classes were cancelled. Packing up the last of her things and heading back to her room with a smile on her face, she almost ran smack into Moonbyul and Solar, wincing as the contents of her backpack spilled on the floor.

"Watch where you're going…oh, hey Seulgi, what's up?" Moonbyul bent down to help Seulgi pick up her things. "You going somewhere?"

"Just heading back to my room to make some final preparations for the competition tomorrow," Seulgi replied, stuffing the last few loose papers back into her backpack. "That is of course, if Irene doesn't try to kick me out again."

Moonbyul frowned, wondering if she'd need to have another conversation with the Champion. "Has she been treating you badly?"

"She yells at me and blames me for everything under the sun," Seulgi shrugged as she stuffed the last of her pencils into her bag. "But I know she's been through some awful stuff."

"Dude, that doesn't excuse her behavior, it merely explains it. Look, I'll have another talk with her about our rules, are you sure you don't want to switch rooms?"

Seulgi's eyes widened and she vehemently shook her head. "No thank you Moonbyul, though I appreciate your concern. I am determined to stick with it. Despite how she may feel about me, I admire Irene's resilience, and when she _is_ nice to me, it's quite genuine."

Realizing the other girl was putting her foot down, Moonbyul raised her hands in surrender. "Alright then, I'll let you get back to what you were doing again. Can I count on you to be one of the representatives for the opening match tomorrow? We could use your Bewear."

"Of course, I'll make sure we're ready." As Seulgi whirled around to leave she looked back over her shoulder. "The other two dorms are in for a huge surprise."

XXX

Irene seriously thought about confronting Seulgi about the card she had found, but to be perfectly honest, she just didn't care. Leeteuk had called her, and the two had scheduled a meeting for tomorrow. The Champion had tried to put it off, seeing as the first of the dorm games were happening and she had promised Moonbyul she'd be there, but her mentor had insisted.

So when her roommate walked in with a smile, she couldn't bring herself to bring the taller girl down. "Hey."

"Oh, hey Irene. How was your day?"

The raven-haired girl shrugged. "Could be better. But then again, it could be worse. Are you going to be competing in the dorm competition tomorrow?"

Seulgi grinned and patted one of her Pokeballs. "Moonbyul asked me to participate in one of the battles with Bewear tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it."

Irene was impressed. Byul only looked for the best to represent the dorm, and they had only known the transfer student for a few days. She whistled. "Wow, that's an honor. Make sure to do the dorm proud, okay? If you lose, Byul's gonna rip you a new one."

Seulgi's smile faltered for a moment but she quickly recovered. "I'll be sure to do my best then. Have a good night Irene. I hope to see you there tomorrow."

Irene heard her retreat to her loft and she settled back down on her bed. See, Irene. She's competing tomorrow. No reason to drag her down with you. You can always confront her about it later. _Ugh. Tomorrow is gonna suck._


	8. Chapter 8

"GOOD MORNING KALOS ACADEMY!"

The next morning, everyone had gathered at the main arena for the competition. The student body was eager to get started, as evidenced by the wild cheers. Seulgi stood next to Wendy, her hands over her ears. "I'm Professor Kim Dongwan, headmaster of the Academy and I'll just be going over the rules for today."

He pointed to a large scoreboard which was currently blank. "All competitions are a little bit different, but today we're starting off with a battle royale, a classic Academy battle format! The winning team gets points added to their team's scoreboard. There will be battles and contests going on all morning and afternoon as well, and at the end of the day, the dorm with the most points is the winner!"

Seulgi cheered. This was shaping up to be one amazing day. Dongwan looked down at his tablet and tapped a few buttons. The scoreboard set itself up, a little chibi Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza appearing on the board, with a huge zero underneath them. "The boards have been set, and let the opening battle begin. Would Kang Seulgi, Moon Byulyi and Son Seungwan please come to the arena? I'd also like Jung Wheein, Ahn Hani, Kang Daniel, Park Jihyo, Yoo Jeongyeon and Son Chaeyoung to come on down."

Seulgi looked awestruck. "You're battling too? I can't believe it!"

Wendy grinned. "Yeah, Moonbyul saw footage of our tag battle against Yeri and Joy and wanted us to battle with her. I hear it's a great honor."

"It's not going to be easy though, have you heard the names of the others? Daniel's an undefeated Unova coordinator and Jihyo's an amazing breeder."

"Relax, dude, we've got a Champion on our side. We're gonna mop the floor with these guys to set Dorm One off on the right track."

Seulgi nodded and they walked to the center arena to meet with Moonbyul and shake hands with their opponents.

Moonbyul waved to them, looking determined. "Wendy. Seulgi. I'd like to formally introduce you to two of the other dorm captains, Kang Daniel and Park Jihyo."

The two girls shook their hands, still vibrating with excitement. Seulgi couldn't wait. Once pleasantries (and thinly veiled threats) were exchanged, they split up to talk strategy for a few minutes while the arena was prepared.

Moonbyul cleared her throat. "Now I'm not sure how familiar you are with triple battles, but in essence it's just a three on three match. However, we've changed it since there are three dorms competing. So now it's a three on three on three match. Teamwork is absolutely essential here, as with nine Pokémon on the field, it can get pretty hectic. It's basically a battle royale."

Seulgi listened intently, wishing she had brought her notebook to write down every word the Hoenn Champion was saying.

"I like the teamwork you and Seulgi brought in that double battle earlier this week Wendy, so that's why I asked you. You should have no qualms about using the environment and enemy position to your advantage. The fight is over when the other team's Pokémon get knocked out. So it's more about sustainability in this fight than brute power."

Seulgi snapped her fingers in understanding. "That's why you wanted my Bewear. They're known for being a tankier Fighting-type. Mine especially can take quite a few hits, after all, he trains regularly with my Garchomp and Tyranitar."

Moonbyul nodded. "Wendy, I know a lot of your Pokémon have high sustainability, so all I ask is that you don't pick Marowak. Its defense is a little lackluster for what I have planned."

Wendy grinned and pulled out a Pokeball. "No worries, you want defense? I'll go Sawsbuck then. Mine has multiple moves that can leech health from opponents. Who will you choose?"

Moonbyul thought about it for a moment. "Do you guys think you can protect my partner if I send him out there? He's a lot more fragile but his sheer speed and attack power could really make this team work."

"What about defense, like you said?" Wendy looked confused.

"The fight is only over once the other six Pokémon are unable to battle. I figure if the two of you can protect my Pokémon while he takes out a good chunk of the opposition before falling, it'll make the fight a whole lot more manageable."

Seulgi's eyes widened. "You'd be willing to sacrifice your Pokémon to make sure we have a shot?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. Now come on, strategy time's over. It's time to beat the crap out of the other two dorms. Can I count on you two to pull through?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Of course, Moonbyul."

XXX

Moonbyul, Seulgi and Wendy stood on one side of the arena. It had changed shape during the strategy session to better support the teams playing. To their left stood Daniel, Hani and Wheein, and to their right were Jihyo, Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung.

The crowd had gone silent, as if waiting on pins and needles for the game to begin. Nobody knew who would win, with such strong looking contenders on both sides. Professor Kim, Nurse Ji-Eun and Yongsun sat at a raised platform, as they were to be the commentators for the battle. Professor Kim made one last adjustment on his tablet and the scoreboard turned into a countdown timer.

Five.

Seulgi breathed. She could do this, Moonbyul was counting on her.

Four.

Wendy was grinning, confident that her Sawsbuck and Seulgi's Bewear could enact the plan Moonbyul had concocted. Her roommates Joy and Yeri were on the sidelines, cheering her on. Yeri was holding up a handmade sign that read 'Go, Wendy!' while Joy held up one cheering on Seulgi.

Three.

Moonbyul looked up at Yongsun and the two shared a smile. She had to win, had to show Solar what she could do.

Two.

Irene saw the arena in the distance as she got in the car to go meet with Leeteuk. Time for damage control.

One.

"Go, Bewear!"

"Sawsbuck, let's mess them up!"

"Houndoom, go!"

XXX

It was absolute chaos. Nine Pokémon on the field at once. Seulgi looked closely at her opponents and noted their strategies.

Daniel had sent out a Pidgeot, which could spell trouble for Bewear if it wasn't dealt with quickly. Hani had a Krookodile, and it was busy poking a claw at Wheein's Manectric.

They seemed to be going for a good mix of offensive and defensive power, and Seulgi was wary about what strategy they had under their sleeves.

Dorm Three had gone all out offensively. Jeongeyon's Bisharp was pacing back and forth, analyzing weaknesses. Jihyo had gone with an Alakazam to complement it, while Chaeyoung called out a Beautifly to provide aerial support.

"Seulgi, I can easily take down the Beautifly, Pidgeot and Bisharp by myself before my Houndoom gets tired," Moonbyul murmured. Seulgi was impressed. If the Houndoom managed to take out the Pidgeot and Beautifly, her Bewear and Wendy's Sawsbuck had a lot less to worry about. Both of them had a shared weakness in Flying-Type Pokémon, which could punch holes in their carefully laid out plan if things went awry.

"I'll have Bewear focus on defense and keeping the Krookodile and Manectric at bay. Krookodile is weak to Fighting-type moves so I can scare Hani into focusing on me."

Wendy whistled. "I'll be switching between offense and defense while the Houndoom's able to battle, then I'll fall back to support when it falls. Good?"

It was as if a pin had dropped and then suddenly the battlefield roared to life.

"Houndoom, Flamethrower!"

Startled at the Champion making the first move, Jeongeyon could only watch in horror as the Dark-Type Pokemon charged forward, shooting a jet of orange flame from its jaws. The flames struck Bisharp, bathing the unfortunate steel-type in fire.

From the stands, the commentary had begun, "Ouch, with that incredible opening salvo, Moonbyul's Houndoom roasts Jeongyeon's Bisharp. Will her Pokémon be able to handle the heat?"

The answer was a resounding no. The Bisharp keeled over, knocked out of the battle in one savage hit. The Houndoom howled in victory, leaping back to evade a retaliatory Air Cutter from Chaeyoung's Beautifly, the other teams having recovered from the surprise attack.

The scoreboard above them beeped, the portrait of the Bisharp going dark. One down, five to go. Seulgi and Wendy were busy fending off an attack from the Coordinators, while the Houndoom raced towards its next target.

"Bewear, use Bulk Up!" Her Bewear closed its eyes and growled, directing its power inward to increase its attack power and defense. The ends of its fur started to glow faintly. Wendy's Sawsbuck blocked any opponents from hurting the Bewear while it used its ability, buying time for it to finish.

Daniel grimaced when he saw the Bewear. They were hard to take down on a bad day. And on a good day like this? He wasn't excited. His Pidgeot could take down the giant bear Pokémon with a flying-type attack, but the Sawsbuck was protecting it from getting hit. Then again he could switch targets and aim for taking Wendy's Pokémon down… The champion Coordinator was so focused in fact that he didn't see Moonbyul's Houndoom until it was too late.

"Thunder Fang!"

Sharp jaws that pulsed with waves of electric power closed around the Pidgeot, startling them both. _Damn it, I fell for it! _Another portrait went dark as the Houndoom claimed its second victim.

"Moonbyul is just on fire today as Houndoom defeats a second Pokémon," Professor Kim said. Solar had seemingly forgotten about the rules about impartial judging and was cheering for her girlfriend.

The students were clapping maniacally as Dorm One got one step close to victory. The Houndoom was getting weaker though. It had taken out two of the six remaining Pokémon but had sustained some pretty heavy hits in the process. Moonbyul knew her faithful partner would only be able to take down one more opponent before fainting. She had to pick the right one.

Meanwhile, Seulgi's Bewear was just getting tankier and tankier. It was stacking Bulk Up, and with that done, she had begun working on the second phase of her plan. While both she and Wendy knew that Houndoom would be sacrificed, the other teams didn't. If Wendy scared them into thinking that her Pokémon would protect Houndoom at all costs, they would panic. Seulgi shared a look with Wendy.

"Sawsbuck, use Safeguard!"

Sawsbuck's horns began to glow, but aside from that, nothing seemed to happen. Everyone knew that if no one took out the Houndoom soon, Sawsbuck's move would protect the fire Pokémon from getting hurt further. Something had to be done.

Bewear had switched to defensive support to conserve its energy, only poking at an opponent's defenses before sliding back to be with the Sawsbuck.

"This is my last shot, you two, who do you need taken out?" Moonbyul asked her teammates.

Seulgi knew who she needed to have taken out. Chaeyoung's Beautifly had been weakened earlier when it had been hit with a vicious Stone Edge from Hani's Krookodile. Beautifly was the only Pokémon left on either team that posed an issue for her Bewear.

"I need Beautifly gone before Chaeyoung finds an opportunity to go after Bewear. My Bewear may have a lot of defense now, but I'd rather not risk taking an Air Cutter to the face before I end this battle."

Moonbyul nodded, seeing that the younger girl had a game-winning move up her sleeve. "Houndoom, ready to go out in a blaze of glory, my friend?"

The Houndoom yipped happily and gave his Trainer a nod. "Houndoom, use Fire Fang. Bring that Beautifly down."

"Nothing needs to be said as the Houndoom takes down an already weakened Beautifly!" The third portrait went dark, and Chaeyoung cursed. "But ouch, that hit probably hurt! Jihyo's Alakazam manages to strike the recovering Houndoom with a Focus Blast. I don't think the Houndoom will be able to survive that."

Dorm One booed, but Professor Kim was right. Moonbyul's partner had done his job, taking out three of their opponents before falling. The Houndoom's portrait went dark as the battle got into its final stages.

Alakazam was the only Pokémon left on the Breeder's side, while Manectric and Krookodile remained standing for the Coordinators. Wendy and Seulgi shared a quick glance with Wheein and Hani, and they nodded.

Jihyo gulped. The minute Chaeyoung's Beautifly had fallen she knew this battle was over for her dorm. She was the last one on her side, and with no support, she was fairly certain both Dorm One and Two would gang up on her to take Dorm Three out of the running. Expertly bred Pokémon could only cover for so much. She was right.

"Manectric, use Thunder Wave!" A wave of electricity arced from Wheein's Manectric, stunning Jihyo's Alakazam.

"Sawsbuck, make the Alakazam pay for knocking out your teammate. Megahorn!"

Alakazam's eyes widened in terror as the deer Pokémon barreled forward, its sharp horns having nearly tripled in size. It tried to dodge the incoming hit, but the Manectric's Thunder Wave had paralyzed it.

"And with that decisive hit, the Breeders are out of this match." The fourth portrait blinked out. "It's now between the Coordinators and the Battlers. Both sides have two Pokémon remaining. Which team will come out on top?"

XXX

Seulgi couldn't help but smile. Her Bewear could easily win this battle. They wouldn't see it coming. "Wendy, I can finish this myself."

"You sure? The other team still looks pretty healthy."

"Just…use Protect, okay?"

Wendy nodded and called her Sawsbuck back to the defensive line while Bewear lumbered forward. She knew when to hang back and let her teammate do the beating.

"Really? A Bewear against a Manectric and a Krookodile?" Hani laughed, looking up at the fluffy-looking Bear Pokémon. "What makes you think you can beat us alone?"

"This. Bewear, use Brutal Swing. In case you forgot Hani, while Houndoom and Sawsbuck did most of the fighting, I was busy stacking Bewear's Bulk Up attack."

Comprehension dawned on Hani's face as she tried to direct her Krookodile to retreat. Everything seemed to slow down as the Bewear's eyes glowed a blood red. Her Krookodile normally wouldn't have been affected too much by a Dark-type move, but something told her this was no ordinary attack. Hani's Pokémon was far too slow however, as the Bewear charged at them black energy coalesced around its massive paws. With a resounding smack, Bewear's attack connected, impacting both Pokémon and sending them flying backwards with the sheer force of the move.

The arena was deathly silent, the only sound being the two resounding beeps as, in one attack, both enemy Pokémon were defeated.

Suddenly everyone was cheering. Wendy roared happily, pumping a fist in the air and running over to bear-hug Seulgi. Even Moonbyul looked pleased, giving Seulgi a smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, its over just like that. In a show of extraordinary power, Bewear takes out not one, but both of its opponents with a super-charged Brutal Swing attack," Professor Kim sounded extremely excited.

"Professor, how can one attack have that much power?" Solar asked, looking confused. "Krookodile is a dark-type Pokémon, it shouldn't have been that hurt by the attack."

"You see, Seulgi explained it. Bulk Up does much more than increase a Pokémon's defense. It also increases its attack power every time it uses the move. With the number of times the Bewear was able to pull off the move during the early stages of the battle, it's not surprising that Brutal Swing hit for that much damage. It's a good thing Wendy's Sawsbuck used Protect as well, otherwise it would have also gotten knocked out by the move."

Seulgi wasn't listening to the commentators anymore as she recalled her Bewear, a wide grin crossing her features. She had done it. She had won. Yeri and Joy had broken through the crowd and were running to congratulate Wendy. Seulgi found herself pulled into a group hug and she felt like she was on top of the world.

The Chibi Groudon on the scoreboard roared happily as the number below it changed from zero to one hundred.

"Now then, that was an extraordinary battle, but that was just the beginning of the day's events. Anything is still possible today. Good luck to all three dorms, may luck be with you as you enjoy the first dorm competition!"


	9. Chapter 9

Irene knew she was in trouble the minute she saw Leeteuk's face. It was the same face her mentor had whenever she came home late after a night of partying with Solar and Moonbyul. "You're giving me that look, Leeteuk. I get it, I fucked up. Can we get this over with so I can go back to the dorm competition?"

Leeteuk sighed, and gestured for Irene to get into the car. "Your father called me in a rage yesterday, something about an article?"

They pulled out of the school parking lot and headed towards the Champion's Tower. The name itself was misleading, as it wasn't really a tower. In fact, the PR headquarters of the Pokémon league was only a couple of stories tall and rather nondescript looking.

Irene released her Ninetales and it settled happily in the seat next to her. "You know my dad, he's always overreacting about everything. I can't count how many times he's threatened to disown me over stupid things like this."

Leeteuk raised his eyebrows, "It doesn't seem like his usual rage, Irene, and I think you know that. Is the article right?"

The Champion scoffed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "Yes and no. I'm definitely not circling the drain or suicidal, and I'd never resort to taking drugs. But…something kind of hit home for me when the piece mentioned depression."

Her mentor's face softened. He understood, he really did. A young woman becoming Champion, with all of the privilege that came from that title, was a hard thing to bear. Add in all the loss Irene had experienced and it was no surprise she was asking about it. "Do you think you want to meet with a doctor to discuss it?"

Irene's eyes widened, almost as if she feared the thought of going to a doctor. "Are you kidding? And have the tabloids run rampant with a story like that?"

"If you wanted the meeting to be super private, the league has plenty of physicians that have taken strict confidentiality contracts. After all, did you hear that Siebold broke his arm recently? He was performing one of his monologues for a challenger when he slipped on the wet stairs and fell."

Irene knew the injury was nothing to laugh about but she couldn't help but chuckle. She remembered facing Siebold, monologue and all. It was one of her more memorable battles. "No, I didn't hear that he broke his arm. Oh…"

Leeteuk smiled. "The league has plenty of resources Irene, you need only ask if you want to use them."

Feeling a little better about her chances, Irene nodded. "I'll have to really think about it, but I might just check them out. Would my father hear about it?"

Leeteuk knew that the one person Irene feared above all was her father and to be honest it made him sad. Irene's father should be a role model and mentor to his daughter, not a manager and PR watchdog. "He would not hear about it from our people, only you would have the power to tell him."

Irene breathed a sigh. Good. "In that case, can you get me some information today while we're at the tower?"

"Of course. Now, heart-to-heart aside, we've got to deal with this article. Buckle up Irene, this is going to be a long day. Damage control is never pretty."

XXX

As the day progressed and a multitude of battles went on, the scoreboards kept beeping as the dorms fought for first place. Seulgi found herself watching many of them, impressed that the other two dorms were able to keep up with theirs.

For being focused on Coordinating and Breeding respectively, Dorms Two and Three were still amazing at battling. Wendy was by her side for most of the day, pointing out people and Pokémon, and regaling her with tales of being the daughter of an Elite Four member.

"So there this guy was, one Pokémon left, while my dad still had three of his team. I could see him shaking, looking at my dad's Dragonite."

"I've seen your dad's Dragonite on TV before, it's one of his most powerful Pokémon right?" Seulgi grinned when Wendy puffed out her chest proudly.

"Yeah, that Dragonite is beast. My dad promised to give me one of the Dratini he's bred when I graduate," the shorter girl said excitedly. "Anyway, the challenger was scared out of his wits and my dad just stood there. The poor bastard ran screaming from the fight, leaving his Venusaur on the field."

Seulgi gasped, "That poor Venusaur! The guy came back for it, right?"

Wendy nodded. "Yeah, but he then got a pretty serious verbal beating from my dad about responsibility. I've been on the receiving end of one of those conversations and let me tell you, it is not a pretty sight."

The rest of their conversation was interrupted when the scoreboards changed, showing a direct feed to the judges' platform. "Good afternoon Kalos Academy, I hope your day of battling was fun."

The students cheered. "What's going on?" Seulgi muttered.

"As you can see, the dorm currently in the lead is…" The boards switched briefly back to show the numbers. "None of you. I am both extremely pleased and surprised by this. We haven't had a tie like this in seven years."

The crowd started muttering. If no one was in the lead, how were they going to announce a winner? "A tie? What happens when there's a tie?" Seulgi asked Wendy, but she shrugged her shoulders and mouthed _no clue_.

"Not to worry, we have contingencies for events like this so if you'll please all come down to the Training Forest area in the next half hour, we'll get everything worked out."

The feed went dead, returning to the tied scoreboard and the crowd broke out into hushed muttering. "You know when they say the word contingency I get nervous," Seulgi muttered. She had only been here a few days but she had a sinking feeling that something bad was going to happen.

XXX

"A race?" Moonbyul asked, raising her eyebrows. She was standing with Jihyo, Daniel and the other three dorm captains, along with the judges for the day, discussing the tie-breaking event.

"A marathon of sorts," Professor Kim explained. "Each dorm will select one Trainer with a Pokémon that they can ride comfortably. They will then run a race to determine the winner of the first games. Attacks will be allowed, and before you can all grab a Trainer with an Arcanine, the move Extremespeed is grounds for disqualification."

Daniel swore under his breath, a second from contacting Taehyung, who had an Arcanine named Yeontan. Moonbyul stifled a snort, she should have known that he would try something like this. Professor Kim went on to explain the race boundaries and expectations before Ji-eun jumped in to explain her bit.

"Now, while attacks are allowed, I need to clarify a few things. You may not target a Trainer and their Pokémon directly. I'm sure all of you have been on the receiving end of a misdirected attack and you know how dangerous they can be."

Daniel raised his hand. "So no moves like Seed Bomb or Hydro Pump are allowed, right?"

"Correct. Moves that slightly enhance speed and stamina are allowed, like Agility and Rock Climb, but not game breaking ones like Extremespeed. We will have aerial cameras and support watching the race from above, so if we see any moves like that we _will_ pull you out and your team will be disqualified."

All six Dorm heads nodded in understanding. Solar jumped in. "I've sent the schematics of the course and a recap of all the rules to your tablets so you can share them with your dorms when you meet to pick a representative. Good luck guys."

The meeting dismissed, Moonbyul immediately ran through the list of people she would pick. At the top of the list, no question, was Irene. Her Zebstrika was blazing fast, she had seen its speed before. _Oh yeah, with Irene on our side, there's no way we can lose!_

XXX

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO ONE'S SEEN IRENE ALL DAY?" Moonbyul was breathing heavily, a murderous look in her eyes as she stared down at the gathered members of her dorm. "Well where the fuck is she?"

Seulgi looked a little bit scared. She had never seen Moonbyul angry before, and she was quite determined to never be on the receiving side of that anger. "I don't know where she could be, we talked a little this morning before I left, she said that something came up."

Moonbyul growled and shot off a message to the judges about needing a quick delay to find another representative. "We're fucked six ways from Sunday then. Irene was my number one seed to run this race."

Taeyong snorted, "I don't know why you're surprised. This isn't the first time Ice Bitch has failed to show up for something."

"Quiet, Taeyong, I need to think," Moonbyul quickly ran through her ever dwindling list of people. Not that one, Extremespeed was banned. Nor that one, their Gogoat had pulled a muscle earlier in the day. This was not looking good for their dorm, and she was starting to regret making those bets.

"Seriously though," Taeyong continued, ignoring his head of dorm's order. "Have you guys even read that article about her? I think our "Champion" is losing her touch. I wonder if she really has turned to drugs?"

The gathered students started to nod in agreement.

"Would you shut up about Irene?" Seulgi snapped, whirling around to face the bully and staring him right in the eyes. "I have had enough of your snide remarks about her. Irene's going through a very hard time right now and frankly I am ashamed of all of you! She is twice the Trainer you all could ever hope to be, and yet you're tearing her down to feed your own insecurities. It's absolutely despicable."

"Are you volunteering to take Joohyun's place, Seulgi?" Moonbyul asked. Seulgi wasn't her first choice, but the fact was, they needed a fast team, and Seulgi and her Bewear were their best bet. She was _not_ about to eat at the taco truck for the rest of the semester.

"I am," Seulgi affirmed, calling out her Bewear and storming off to the starting line to inform the judges about the change in roster. She could hear her dorm-mates muttering rude things behind her back.

The second she stepped foot on the starting line with her partner, she transformed into a completely different person. Seulgi was always confident, but now, with a challenge in front of her, she became a fighter. _I'm taking Irene's place to prove those assholes wrong. I know I'm good enough to win this thing._

Bewear huffed next to her and knelt down so she could climb on his back. He growled menacingly at the competition, and to his credit, at least the Mudsdale looked a little nervous.

"Seulgi?" Daniel called from atop his shiny Rapidash, "What are you doing here, I thought Irene was racing for your dorm?"

"Something came up I guess, and no one else was willing to step up to the plate." She took a deep breath, ignoring the raucous crowd and syncing her breathing with that of her starter's.

"That's either really brave or really stupid, do you know what will happen to you when you lose this event?" The Rapidash snorted and pranced around on its back legs. Daniel effortlessly soothed his Pokémon by gently rubbing circles on the Fire Pokémon's back. "Moonbyul will crucify you."

Fully focused now, Seulgi turned to face the top-tier coordinator. "That's why I'm not losing today. See you at the finish line, Daniel."

Daniel smiled, and tightened his grip on the fire-proof reins. He could definitely see why Seulgi and Irene were having a hard time getting along. _They're both stubbon as a Tauros._

A gun went off and the race began.


	10. Chapter 10

Seulgi surged forward on her Bewear, quickly settling into a fast, yet comfortable pace. The Mudsdale was behind them, and the Rapidash in front, but she was confident about her pacing. Moonbyul had sent the schematics to her tablet and she had easily memorized the layout. It wouldn't give her a huge advantage, but anything would be helpful, especially since her Bewear didn't have the inherited speed that her opponents had.

She spotted one of the aerial cameras above her, attached to the leg of a Staraptor, and she urged Bewear to go a little faster. Those cameras were the student's lifeline to the race, providing live feed of the race to the gathered students and judges. They would be racing in a very large square, ending up back where they started. As long as she tried to stay in range of the cameras at all times, it would be nearly impossible for her other two opponents to break the rules and attempt to attack her.

Daniel was still ahead of her, his Rapidash's silver mane and tail waving in the wind. Of all the competitors, Seulgi was worried about him the most. He was just as confident as she was and she could tell that his Rapidash had plenty of experience with working under pressure and in front of a crowd.

Unbeknownst to either of them, the Breeder on top of the Mudsdale had a sinister plan up his sleeve. He had resigned himself to losing when he heard that Irene would be representing Dorm One, but now that that had changed, he was free to go after his opponents. He knew that Jihyo demanded that their dorm win without cheating. What Jihyo didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

It didn't matter to him that he was currently in last place, he could still easily see the other two. As soon as they passed a blind corner in the race he would enact his plan. So when Trainer and Mudsdale passed through a particularly thick clump of trees, he stopped. Making sure the cameras wouldn't be able to see him, he whistled once. A bush rustled behind him and another Breeder walked out, leading an identical Mudsdale on a halter.

Of course it was cheating, but technically there was nothing in the rules about substituting a Pokémon mid-race. He quickly attached the saddle and reins to this new Mudsdale and mounted it, giving the other breeder his tired-out mount. "You know what to do?"

Yugyeom nodded, clipping the lead to the first Sawsbuck. "I do. I don't like this one bit, but I'm sure as hell not having our dorm lose this race. I'd rather cheat and win than lose and eat at that disgusting taco truck for the rest of the year. Go. Win this for us."

The rider saluted, and clicked his teeth, urging the Mudsdale to run. "I'll see you later on in the race then. And don't worry, we got this. I'll win for us, whatever it takes."

Yugyeom watched their representative run off. "I hope you're right, Jackson. Whatever it takes." The Mudsdale next to him nickered and he ran a hand down its neck. "Yeah, you're right. There's time to feel bad about this when we win."

XXX

Seulgi was fairly certain that they were about ninety-five percent done with the race. And she was in first. Her strategy of running at a quick yet steady pace went over well, as she had passed Daniel and his Rapidash, who were recovering after spending a lot of energy on the first leg of the race.

She saw the finish line in front of her, past this clump of trees, and she could barely hear the crowd cheering. She smiled. _We're gonna win this._

Suddenly she was falling, her Bewear losing his balance and skidding on the dirt. She hit the ground hard, letting out a cry as her partner fell on her right leg, pinning her to the ground.

"Nice try, loser," a voice sneered, and she saw the Breeder atop the Mudsdale surge forward toward the finish line.

Her leg was killing her, her starter whining in pain himself. That…bastard! He had tripped up her Bewear. There was mud all over her partner's legs, which could only mean that the Mudsdale attacked them. She prayed the cameras had caught the obvious foul but it then occurred to her that he wouldn't have tripped her if he thought he would get caught. And they were still far enough away from the finish line that the crowd wouldn't have caught the play.

Daniel and his Rapidash were still behind them, so Seulgi decided that if they were going to lose then at least they wouldn't come in last.

_Moonbyul's gonna kill me either way. _She managed to help push her starter off of her injured leg, but only managed to move a few inches before crying in pain. _I can't do this._

XXX

Suddenly, Seulgi was no longer in the race, but back in her old dorm room at the Alola Academy, watching the final battle between a young, accomplished Trainer and the Champion of the Kalos League. Back then, she didn't even know the name of the girl who would soon become a region-wide celebrity.

Leeteuk was no easy Trainer, that much was certain, but even so, the beautiful raven-haired girl with the captivating brown eyes stood her ground without so much as blinking. The Champion had already lost five of his Pokémon and was down to his last one, a powerful Gourgeist.

The entire world held on with bated breath to see what would happen next. The challenger had also lost a fair bit of her team and was down to her last teammate as well. She had a strange strategy though. It was as if she had tailored her team to specifically fight in a certain way, switching her Pokémon in and out if they so much as missed an attack. In fact, the audience had only seen five of the challenger's Pokémon. She held in her hand her last hope.

"I'm impressed, not many people could have come this far," Leeteuk told the girl. "But you're down to your last Pokémon as well, so unless you have some sort of ace, I think we can call this battle over."

The challenger turned her head, clutching her last Pokéball in her hand. Just as the cameras focused on her face, she smirked. "It's not over until someone gives up. And unfortunately for you, I don't give up easily."

Leeteuk frowned and called his Gourgeist in close. "Very well, show me what you've got."

The challenger tossed her Pokéball with a fiery energy and shouted for all the world to hear, "Dante, let's win this battle!"

And the rest was history.

_It's not over until someone gives up. _Seulgi's vision swam in front of her, but she pushed herself up off the ground, ignoring the throbbing pain running down her right leg. Grabbing onto her Bewear's shoulder to steady herself, she began limping towards the finish line.

The Mudsdale had slowed down considerably, as the Trainer on top of it was certain that they had won. Seulgi saw a flash of silver behind her, which signaled the presence of the Coordinators and their Rapidash. "We can't give up, buddy. That's the reason we started training, to make something of ourselves."

Her Bewear growled in agreement, and his eyes began to burn bright red. He knew what to do. Using the last reserves of his strength, he lifted Seulgi up over his shoulders until she rested safely on his back and let loose with a Giga Impact. Swirling white energy engulfed Trainer and Pokémon, and the crowd stood on its feet in shock as the two of them blazed across the finish line less than a second in front of the breeders and their genetically perfected Mudsdale.

Irene watched the end of her race on her tablet from the back of Leeteuk's car. She may have been too late to race herself, but she had seen her dorm pull out victorious. And she smiled. _Nice going, Seulgi._

XXX

That night, the fun was in full swing as the school celebrated the first semester games with a party that put even the hottest of clubs to shame.

There was a loud _pop! _as Moonbyul opened the bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling soda and began pouring the drink in the cups of her dorm-mates. "Let me start this party off by saying just one thing! We fucking won!"

Everyone cheered and clinked their glasses together, taking a moment to revel in the celebratory atmosphere. Since Dorm One came away from the event victorious, the entire courtyard was draped in various shades of red, from the tables and glasses to the walls and the dance floor. Even the pond had been retrofitted with red pool lights to give the entire area a glowing red aura.

Moonbyul was proud of her dorm for winning the competition, especially considering the risks she had made on their behalf. Yeah, sure, perhaps it wasn't the smartest thing to do, wagering her classmate's food privileges, but it had sure as hell paid off.

She had been so close to breaking Irene's face when the raven-haired girl hadn't shown up to the final event. If Seulgi hadn't been there to save the day…

A slow cheer began building in the air as the said savior entered, flashing a mega-watt smile and overall looking very pleased with herself. Moonbyul called her over, "Hey Seulgi, get over here!"

"Hey Moonbyul, enjoying the party?" The hero of the hour looked a little tired and was limping slightly, something that Moonbyul didn't fail to notice.

"Hell yeah, now that everything's over and done with. How about you though? You look a little worse for the wear."

Seulgi took the offered drink and settled down in one of the chairs. "Nurse said that she should just keep a bed in the office for me, but I digress. At least I didn't break my leg, just badly bruised."

"And your Bewear?"

"Getting a well-deserved rest along with the rest of my team."

"Good. Then you have time to celebrate with us. I should tell you what your victory this afternoon earned us in terms of privileges. Tell me, Seulgi, have you ever eaten at the taco truck down by the South Commons?"

Seulgi's smile quickly disappeared as Moonbyul told her the story, to be replaced with a look of horror.

At the main stage, Professor Kim tapped the microphone to quiet the students. "Once again, thanks to everyone who participated in today's games, I hope they were fun. But now we have a trophy to give out."

The red students began cheering wildly.

"Yes, yes, settle down, settle down. As you can see by the color theme tonight, the winner of the first of the year's dorm competitions is….DORM ONE!"

Professor Kim produced a trophy from behind him and handed it to Moonbyul and Namjoon, since they were the dorm captains. "Miss Byulyi, Mister Kim, on behalf of the faculty, congratulations. Would you like to say a few words to your cohorts?"

Moonbyul nodded, accepting the trophy with a grin. "I'd first like to remind the other two dorms about their newly obtained obligations. I wish you losers luck, you'll need it. I'd also like to thank all the Dorm One students who fought today, this trophy is yours as well. But most importantly I'd like to thank the one who made it all possible for us. Even though she was injured in the process, she never gave up and pulled out the win for us. Let's hear it for KANG SEULGI!"

Seulgi gasped as the crowd started chanting. "Seulgi! Seulgi! Seulgi!" Wendy was grinning like a madman, leading the chant with gusto along with Joy and Yeri.

The crowd was so focused on Seulgi that no one noticed a certain Champion sneaking into the party.

XXX

Irene couldn't help but smile at the chanting going on. She had seen Seulgi's spectacular finish on her tablet. Her resilience was amazing, to continue fighting after getting injured like that. It made her think. She knew now for certain that her roommate wasn't the source for the article on her, and it eased her mind. _I knew Seulgi wasn't a bad person._

But then who did? Who invaded her privacy in such a serious manner? She had spent all day at the Champion's Tower, doing damage control and coming up with a course of action. She would sic her father's lawyers on the unfortunate reporter and see how far they got. Irene may not have the best relationship with her father, but he did have resources.

Still, it was enough to make her head spin. Politics were stupid. She grabbed a drink from the table and downed it in one gulp before grabbing another couple and leaving. The party would likely go on for at least a few more hours, and she wasn't in the mood to explain to people why she hadn't been there.

As she left, she walked past a sign saying: Teacher's Beverages. Alcoholic. No Students Allowed.

XXX

Park Jihyo watched as Irene downed her alcoholic drink and she frowned. Why on earth was she stealing drinks from the teacher's table?

Daniel noticed his girlfriend's concerned gaze and bumped shoulders with her. "What's up with you?"

"Irene's gone and grabbed the drinks from the teacher's table. Those have alcohol in them, the students are supposed to stay away from them."

"Jihyo, what's the big deal about Irene getting a little drunk?" Daniel asked, tilting his head in confusion. He didn't see any problem whatsoever with someone letting loose occasionally. Besides, if anyone had cause to celebrate it was Dorm One.

"Irene could never hold her alcohol well," Jihyo told him. "Last time we went out to a club, she had two shots and started hitting on everyone she met. She kissed Solar and Moonbyul wouldn't talk to her for a month. Now granted, everyone at that place was a little drunk, so nobody minded, but we're here at the Academy. If they catch her under the influence, a huge scandal could erupt. I'm sorry to cut our date short, Daniel, but I have to follow her and make sure she doesn't make an ass of herself."

Daniel waved his girlfriend off and shot her an understanding smile. "I get it, Jihyo. You take care of your friends, and I think it's a very honorable thing to do. Look, you know where to find me once you make sure Irene's okay, I'll be around."

Jihyo smiled and turned tail to follow the Kalos Champion as she walked down the hall, looking a little dazed. Man, that alcohol hit her quickly. Daniel was the best boyfriend ever, and Jihyo was constantly amazed at how lucky she was to have met him. _Irene, you are so gonna owe me for this. I'm not letting this boy get away._

XXX

"No Dad, I'm having the time of my life over here," Seulgi said into the phone, and twirling her fingers around the MVP medal Moonbyul had given her. "I think I've finally found the place where I belong. Yes, Vulpix is doing great, he's getting bigger every day."

She caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye and turned around to lock eyes with Irene. Seulgi couldn't put her finger on it, put _something_ seemed off about her roommate. "Dad, I'll call you tomorrow, my friends are pulling me back into the party. Yeah, I love you too."

Hanging up on her father, Seulgi reached out to touch Irene's shoulder as she passed, and gasped when the Champion whirled around to face her. "Seulgi, fancy seeing you here," the champion slurred.

"Are you drunk?" Seulgi accused her, taking the shorter girl's hands in hers and looking her straight in the eye. Irene's pupils were dilated and Seulgi detected the faintest of tremors in her heartbeat as she grasped the Champion's wrists. "You are! Where did you even find alcohol?"

"That doesn't matter. Tell me, Seulgi, why aren't you scared of me? I haven't exactly been the nicest person to be around, and you have to live with me."

Seulgi sighed and leaned back against the wall, letting go of Irene's hands. "Look, Irene, despite your behavior towards me since I arrived, I can understand where you're coming from. I lost a teammate once too, and I thought I would never recover. I lashed out at everyone until I had driven everyone away. I'm not gonna let that happen to you."

Irene trembled and suddenly rushed the taller girl, pulling her into a tight hug. "Thank you, Seulgi."

Oh, so Irene's an affectionate drunk. Warily, Seulgi returned the hug, trying with all her might not to fangirl out at that precise moment for physically touching the Champion. She realized now that despite the other girl's prickly exterior and dare she say it, sometimes outwardly rude behavior, Bae Joohyun was just human.

She had all of that responsibility and power thrown at her the minute her Charizard struck the winning blow against Leeteuk, and then to have her anchor ripped away from her so suddenly and so painfully. Seulgi understood now. "Irene, I—"

Any question on the tip of her tongue was cut off as Irene leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. It was hesitant at first, a feather-light touch that Seulgi almost didn't register, until Irene stepped back, uncertainty swimming in her eyes. "Shut up, Kang."

Seulgi touched her lips in confusion, then pulled Irene back in by her hips and kissed her once again, fiercely this time. _I'm so gonna regret this in the morning._ "Make me, Bae."

The clock struck midnight as they touched, the fireworks going off both figuratively and literally, the cheers of the students muted in Seulgi's ears as her heart beat in time with Irene's. Neither one of them noticed the bright flash of a phone going off.


	11. Chapter 11

Seulgi was pretty sure her entire brain turned off the second she pulled Irene in for another kiss. When she had started the process of coming to the Kalos Academy, it was to eventually become friends with the Champion but this? This was so much more.

_Wait, what am I doing? I'm kissing a very drunk Bae Joohyun. Wait, I'm kissing the Kalos Champion, I can't be doing this!_

Though every fiber of her being told her to keep her arms wrapped around the shorter girl, she forced herself to break away from the contact. It was a good thing she did, too, for not a second later, Irene fell into her arms, clearly unconscious.

Seulgi cursed, trying her best to keep the two of them upright and almost failing miserably. Her leg was throbbing, and the extra weight was not helping her situation. She fumbled around her belt and pulled out one of her Pokémon.

"Garchomp, a little help here," she grunted, releasing the giant shark Pokémon from its ball. It blinked impassively at its Trainer struggling to hold up the Champion. "Come on, you big lump, she's heavy."

The Garchomp huffed, but easily picked up the unconscious Irene, holding her gently in its claws. It glared pointedly at Seulgi and she sighed.

"You can judge me later; I'd like to get her up to our room before anything else happens."

Her Pokémon nodded and they headed up to the room, trying hard to avoid getting seen by any other students. _This was not how I expected my night to end._

XXX

Shouldering the door open so her partner could walk through, Seulgi asked her Garchomp to set its quarry on the bottom bed, before recalling it and placing her Pokémon in their overnight healer.

"You know you're really not making things easy on me," she told Irene, brushing away a stray lock of hair from the Champion's face. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. "I was just getting used to us not being at each other's throats."

Rummaging around in Irene's drawers, she pulled out a comfortable looking T-Shirt and pants, setting them at the foot of the bed. Walking into the bathroom, she grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen from the medicine cupboard and filled a glass up with water.

Placing both down on the nightstand next to the bed, she set about taking off Irene's shoes and pulling a blanket over her to keep her warm.

"You're gonna wake up with a hell of a hangover tomorrow. Hopefully you won't remember the kiss either, I don't know how I'm gonna explain that."

Seulgi turned off Irene's table lamp and retreated to her loft to put her pajamas on. As she was getting ready for bed, her thoughts kept flashing back to that damn kiss. Feeling her cheeks color, she hurried to finish her evening routine before flopping into bed. _Tomorrow's another day. Please say she won't remember, please let her forget._

She repeated that mantra in her head until she fell asleep.

XXX

The sun was shining through a gap in the window by Irene's bed and she resisted the urge to groan. Fuck, her head hurt. The last time she had felt like this, she had kissed Solar and Moonbyul had slapped her.

But unlike last time, someone had helped her into bed, and there was even a glass of water. Irene saw the bottle of ibuprofen, and all but grabbed it as she downed two of them and attempted to lever herself into a more upright position. Her dorm may have won the competition, but classes were to resume promptly the next day, leaving no room for excessive partying. So why did she feel as though an elephant had trampled on her face?

She spotted a pink post-it note attached to the bottle of ibuprofen and smiled softly. _Irene, you looked like you had a rough night, so I dug up some medicine for what I'm sure is going to be a monster headache. –Seulgi_

Speaking of Seulgi, it sounded like her roommate was currently in the shower, judging by the soft singing coming from that direction. Irene was thankful that Seulgi wasn't belting out her songs in the shower like she usually did. Resigning herself to rather crappy day, she grabbed her clothes and quickly got changed before checking on her Pokémon.

She was just about to knock on the door and ask if Seulgi was done hogging the bathroom, when it opened, steam billowing out to reveal her roommate in a towel. "Oh. Irene, I didn't expect you to be up this early."

"Yeah, well who could possibly sleep with all the racket you're making in the shower," the Champion groused, though her insult lacked its usual bite.

Seulgi's eyes widened. "I wasn't trying to be loud, I swear, sometimes I just get going and I can't stop…"

"Relax, you're not _that _annoying. The hangover from hell decided to show up and I thought a shower would help. What the hell happened last night?"

The taller girl blushed and stepped out of the bathroom, doing her best not to slip on the wood floor and avoiding eye contact with Irene. The Champion instantly got suspicious. She threw out an arm to stop her roommate and Seulgi's blush only intensified.

"Seulgi, what happened?"

Her roommate mumbled something unintelligible and Irene arched an eyebrow. "You…may have gotten drunk and kissed someone last night."

"I what? Oh fuck me." Irene ran a hand through her hair and tried her best to recall what happened after she went to the party. Unfortunately, all she remembered was picking up a few drinks from what she thought was the student table. "Who was it? It better not have been Solar, I'd rather not get slapped again."

Seulgi merely stuttered and clutched her towel even tighter as she shouldered her way past Irene to get dressed. "It…wasn't Solar. It was dark, but I'm sure she was taller than you. The two of you seemed _very_ into it."

"You didn't stop us?" Irene asked, looking surprised. Perhaps she was so used to having her every move scrutinized, it came as a shock that Seulgi didn't intervene. Wait…taller than me? "I didn't kiss Moonbyul last night did I?"

But her roommate didn't answer, rushing out of the dorm room with her hair still wet. Odd. But she guessed Seulgi had the right to be a little uncomfortable, especially if she had witnessed Irene kiss another girl. "Ow, that's way too much thinking."

She glanced at her tablet and wondered how much trouble she'd get into for missing her morning classes. _Eh, what's the harm? I can always say I wasn't feeling well. I definitely don't feel like going to class and confronting Moonbyul. Yes. Plenty of time for that later. More sleep now._

XXX

_That was way too close. _Seulgi looked over her shoulder to check if Irene had followed her, but the hallway behind her was empty. "Oh my god, never again."

"What's never again?" a voice said and she jumped.

"Wendy! Nothing, I was just thinking to myself." Seulgi tried to regain her composure as best she could, and continued walking to her morning class. "Did you finish that paper on inherited values for breeding that Jihyo assigned?"

Wendy's face was completely blank, so Seulgi deduced that she likely hadn't done it at all. "I guess I didn't finish that paper."

To her credit, Wendy at least looked a little embarrassed. But she easily shook it off, a winning smile crawling back on her face. "No, Wendy, I'm not going to let you copy off my paper."

"Worth a shot," she shrugged. "Hey, are you doing anything after class today? You're still pretty new to the Kalos region in general, I thought maybe I could show you around downtown."

Seulgi beamed and nodded her head. "I'd love to. This is my stop, Wendy, but…" She turned on her tablet to check her schedule. "My last class lets out around 2:30 today, I can meet you then."

Wendy couldn't help but smile. "Awesome. I'll see you at 2:30." She watched as Seulgi entered the classroom and waited until she was out of earshot. "Yessss."

Her tablet beeped and she went to check it, smile still plastered on her face at the thought of getting to hang out with Seulgi. It quickly melted off her face though. Angered, she threw her tablet against the wall and the screen cracked.

A picture of Irene kissing Seulgi flickered back and forth on the screen before the tablet turned off.

XXX

The next time Irene woke up, it was 11:30 and she was feeling a lot better. She still had a headache, but it had thankfully devolved. The lunch period would have just gotten started, so she had time to take a shower and get ready for her afternoon classes.

Her tablet buzzed from her desk and she jumped up to answer, praying that it wasn't her father or Leeteuk. She didn't feel like explaining anything. Her expression turned into confusion though when she saw Moonbyul's name on the caller ID.

"Moonbyul? What are you calling for?" She couldn't hear much from the other end, there was too much noise in the background.

"Joohyun? Where are you?"

"My room, where else would I be sleeping off the hangover from hell? Is something wrong?" Moonbyul rarely used her actual name unless they were in a professional setting or about to talk about something serious.

Moonbyul snorted and beside her, Solar mumbled something along the lines of, "Moonbyul, it's not funny."

"Nothing's wrong shorty, but you should stay where you are. Me and Solar are coming up. Be there in five." She hung up abruptly.

Irene huffed, and decided to forgo her shower until her friends left. It must've been something relating to last night. Oh, how she wished she could remember what happened. Taking a moment to at least make herself look slightly presentable, she waited for the knock at the door.

Moonbyul burst in, grinning from ear to ear, Solar trailing along beside her. "I didn't know you got busy last night, Irene. I'd congratulate you but judging by the look on your face you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. Jesus, how hammered were you?"

The Champion was starting to get a little suspicious. Things weren't adding up. "What are you talking about, Moonbyul? I got drunk last night and kissed someone. According to what little I _do _remember it might have been you."

The Hoenn Champion raised her eyebrows and burst out laughing. She turned on her tablet and shoved it in Irene's face. "You didn't kiss just _anyone _last night, Joohyun. You kissed your roommate."

The raven-haired Trainer's memory all of a sudden came rushing back. She _had_ talked to Seulgi, and she had said something about losing a partner before. Everything after was blurry, but she had remembered a somber kind of fluttering in her heart, like something suddenly made sense to her. "I kissed _SEULGI?"_

Solar nodded, and tensed, ready to throw herself in between the two Champions should things devolve into an argument. She was sure they were about to, with Irene's mouth hanging open and Moonbyul barely holding onto the tablet, she was laughing so hard.

"So Irene, I love the whole sexual tension dynamic thing you've got going on with the new girl, but tell me. Are you two planning your wedding yet?"

There it was. Irene's muscles tensed just slightly, and Solar wasn't fast enough to stop her as the Kalos Champion slapped Moonbyul across the face.

Moonbyul's grin faded and she growled, slapping Irene right back with just as much force.

"Stop the violence, you two," Solar pleaded, stepping in to separate the two of them, pulling Moonbyul back by the waist.

"She started it," Moonbyul was edging away from Irene, waving off Solar's attempts to look at her cheek. "Damn, but if I'm not impressed. You can throw a slap, Irene."

Irene was seething with rage. It explained everything. Her roommate's nervousness around her, not wanting to talk to her. "God damn it, Moonbyul, it's not like I meant for it to happen. And how in the hell did someone manage to take a picture of us?"

"Hey, all I'm saying is that you looked like you enjoyed it, so what's the harm in that?"

"The _harm _is in my father getting his hands on that picture and turning it into a national scandal," Irene hissed. The last thing she wanted was for her father's people to find out.

Moonbyul's brows knit in concern. She hadn't thought about it like that. Exhaling deeply, she ran her hands through her hair and thought up with a plan. "Okay, well we do have one advantage. Whoever took this sent it over the school's messaging network, which means unless someone personally decides to leak the story, this photo will only be seen by the school."

"Oh yeah, having the whole school know I kissed Seulgi is perfectly fine," Irene scoffed.

"It's better than having the world know. Remember, we're all under a strict contract. That means that if someone wants to come forward and brag about this, they'll be expelled faster than you can say Jolteon."

For once, Irene was thankful for her school's over-the-top policy on secrecy. "I guess at least I have that. But I spent the entire day of the dorm competition at League HQ doing damage control after that first article. I literally cannot afford for _this_," she gestured at the picture, "to get out."

"Relax, Irene. Your newest secret is safe. All you gotta do now is face the student body and explain."

The Champion scowled. "Yeah, cause that's gonna go over well."

XXX

"Hey, are you the reporter who published the story on Irene?"

The Kalos News Network reporter jumped in his chair, half expecting the voice to belong to another one of Irene's father's pet lawyers. Part of him regretted having published the story, if only to save what was left of his dwindling professional reputation. Sure, it had gotten him back in the good graces of his superiors, but his financials were beginning to suffer after her father sicced some of the region's best lawyers on his ass.

He managed to escape most of the trumped up invasion of privacy charges they had levied against him, but his freedom was literally bought with most of his savings. Courtroom fees were a bitch. So needless to say he was not excited to see yet another student from the Academy approaching him.

"What do you want, kid? I'm busy."

"Taeyong gave me your name and number and said you were the guy to go to."

The reporter blinked. The damn Taeyong kid was gonna get him in trouble. He tried to feign indifference, but it was clear that it wouldn't work. "Look, I can't pay you nearly what I did him, in case you hadn't noticed," he gestured to the pile of paperwork in front of him, "going after Irene wasn't my smartest plan."

"I don't care about a lot of money, I just want our beloved Champion knocked down a few pegs."

Now he was intrigued. He'd be an idiot to turn down free information. Carefully shifting his paperwork to one side, he motioned for his newfound informant to sit down. "Alright kid, talk to me. What do you have?"

A tablet embossed with the Academy crest was tossed to him, a single picture on the screen. The reporter's eyes lit up with glee. "I told you you'd like it."

"Well let me say that with _this_, I can certainly knock Miss Bae off her pedestal. And I'm fairly certain her father would throw a fit. We have a deal."


	12. Chapter 12

For the first time in her life, Wendy had absolutely no idea what to do. Usually she'd be fine with bullshitting her way through everything, but this was Seulgi she was talking about. She turned to Joy and Yeri, "Guys, I don't know where to take her this afternoon."

Joy raised her eyebrows, "Why are you stressed about this? You said so yourself, it's not a date."

Yeri grinned, "Besides, I think we all know she likes Champions."

Wendy shoved her youngest roommate off her chair and she hit the floor with a thud. Admittedly Wendy overreacted when she had first seen the photo between the two of them, but Seulgi had explained everything.

"_Me and Irene? I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh. You saw the picture."_

"_Yeah, no shit I saw the picture. I had no idea you were into girls."_

"_I'm not _strictly_ into girls. It's…wait, why am I even talking to you about this?"_

"_Seul, you can't just go around making out with the Kalos Champion, it's bad form."_

"_I didn't, I…don't you look at me like that Wendy. I know you've done worse."_

"_The point being, I may not know much, but I've seen her dad before and trust me, that's one dude you do _not_ want mad at you. I just wanna keep you far away from the Bae family and their drama."_

"_Wendy, while that's sweet and noble and all, I don't think you have to worry about it. It won't happen again."_

Joy snapped her fingers in front of Wendy's face, trying to bring her roommate back down to Earth. "Dude, you okay? Your eyes went blank for a second there. And like, not the kind of blank they get when you get asked a question in class."

Wendy brushed off her concerns. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Better than good, I got an idea for the perfect place to go. Seulgi hasn't been off-campus to see the city yet, I'll take her for a walk around downtown."

Yeri flashed her a thumbs up.

XXX

"You have a _motorcycle?_" Seulgi looked dumbfounded as Wendy handed her a spare helmet. "Of course you do. Can you even legally drive this thing?"

"Course I can. Dad got it for me as a going-away present when I left to go to school here. So, Seulgi, I know you haven't been able to see much of the city that surrounds the Academy, how does a ride downtown sound to you? We can stop at one of the local Pokémon marts too, I hear they're thinking about starting up a weekly tournament for kids."

Seulgi beamed at the other girl's obvious excitement. And truth be told, she was looking forward to an afternoon away from the school. She hadn't gotten a single moment to herself ever since the picture of her and Irene went viral. People were looking at her in a whole new light, and to be honest she wasn't sure _this_ was the kind of fame she had in mind.

"A ride downtown sounds fun, Wendy." Putting the helmet on, she made her way over to Wendy's bike, wrapping her arms around the shorter girl's waist for balance as she revved up the engine and drove past the wrought-iron academy gates, sending the security Mightyena that were on patrol into a barking frenzy.

Twenty minutes later they stopped at the Hero's Mark, one of the most popular toy stores in the city. It was a small store, wedged in-between a pharmacy and gear shop, but it was filled with games for both Trainers and Pokémon, and judging by the long line at the register, people loved it here.

"How did you find this place?" Seulgi asked, looking at a display table covered in training toys for baby Pokémon. She picked up a toy bone that promised to be as tough "As a Tauros" and hummed, taking it with her as they continued to look around. Her Vulpix would love it, the poor thing was starting to get his adult fangs and was teething like no other.

"Hey, Seul, look at this, do I look like Leeteuk?" Wendy called from a rack of clothes that were supposed to be inspired by the Kalos Champion himself. She looked ridiculous as she modeled a set of fancy clothes that didn't match in the slightest, strutting back and forth down the aisle to laughter from the people around her.

"You're a spitting image of the man himself," she assured Wendy, and the smile she got in return made her heart flutter. "Hey look, I've always wanted to play this game!"

Wendy hung the clothes back in their proper place and followed the brunette over to the demo table, a section of the store where people could sit together and play popular games from the store's stock. Seulgi pulled a box from the shelf and showed it to her, laughing at the look of shock on her face. "Are you sure you want to try this one?"

Seulgi tutted and began setting the game up, motioning for Wendy to join. "What's wrong Wendy, you scared?"

Wendy narrowed her eyes playfully at the blatant challenge and shook her head. "Are you going to ask the questions first or will I?"

"I'll go first, and the first one to five points is the winner, deal?"

"Deal, hit me with your best shot, Seulgi."

"How long has your father been a member of the Kanto Elite Four?" Seulgi looked at the answer printed on her card and waited for Wendy to answer what should have been the easiest question of all time. But by the look on Wendy's face, she had no idea.

"Shit, uh…" She tried to do some quick mental math but was coming up blank. So she took her best guess. "Eleven years?"

She was immediately shocked with a small bolt of electricity, and she had to bite back a very bad word, mindful that there were little kids in the store. "Wrong. Thirteen years. What are the three starting Pokémon usually given to trainers in the Sinnoh region?"

Wendy's heart stopped. Fuck, this was going to hurt. She heard Seulgi laugh again and she decided that getting shocked wasn't so bad if she could see Seulgi smile.

XXX

Irene was sitting in a cold, sterile waiting room, twiddling her thumbs and practically vibrating with nerves. Her beloved Ninetales seemed off this morning after their battle class, and she had rushed to the local clinic downtown as soon as her day was done.

Ugh, the entire place smelled like antiseptic and latex and she just wanted to get out of here. It just brought back bad memories of her time spent in and out of hospitals when Dante was sick. _Relax, this is nothing like what happened to Dante. You're the Champion goddamn it, calm down._

"Miss Bae? You can come back now," a nurse called. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Irene gathered up her things to follow the nurse back into the examination room.

Her Ninetales was curled up in a ball on the exam table, looking like she would rather be anywhere but here. One of the clinic's Chansey was chirping reassuringly as it passed Irene a sheet of paper that was filled with test results, none of which the Champion could understand. "Is Aeolus going to be okay?"

The nurse smiled widely and nodded. "She's going to be just fine, just the Pokémon equivalent of a cold. I've given her some medicine to ease her breathing. I'd keep her on bed rest for a couple of days to make sure she recovers completely, but there's nothing else Chansey and I noticed."

Irene sighed in relief, trying not to let her true emotions show. She had of course known that the chances of Ninetales being sick like Dante was were almost zero, but it still didn't stop the irrational part of her brain from worrying. "Thank you guys so much, I don't think I would have worried as much but…"

"There's no need to explain," the nurse cut her off with a small smile, handing the Champion a small bottle of pills. Everyone had heard about the Champion and her fallen Charizard and she knew how the girl must be feeling. "I'll send you home with a few more of these, give one to Ninetales every evening for about a week. Of course if anything changes, we're here to help anytime."

Irene nodded, tucking the bottle of pills in one of the front pockets of her backpack and gently led her precious Pokémon off the examination table and through the doors leading to the exit. With one last thanks, she signed the required paperwork and left the clinic, glad to be free of the place. Her Ninetales did indeed look a lot better, and was now looking off into the distance at something, her ears wiggling back and forth, tails waving with curiosity. "What is it Aeolus, what do you see?"

Aeolus yipped once before bouncing out of Irene's reach to give chase to whatever it had seen. "AEOLUS, get back here! Damn it!"

She tightened the straps on her backpack and gave chase after her Pokémon, cursing under her breath about how stubborn her Ninetales was. _And it looks like it might rain, how great._ _This day really couldn't get any worse._

XXX

Storm clouds were gathering in the distance when Wendy and Seulgi left the toy store. She had gone ahead and bought the bone chew for Vulpix, and the two of them were going to stop by the pharmacy next door so Wendy could restock on Full Restores for the coming weeks before heading back to the Academy.

"Do you wanna wait by the bike or come inside with me?" Wendy asked. "I'll only be a couple of minutes."

Seulgi waved her away, saying it was fine and she'd rather wait outside and enjoy the clouds. Wendy nodded, setting her helmet on the bike and walking into the store. Seulgi took a deep breath, clutching the straps of her backpack and looking up at the darkening sky above her. The storm didn't look too big, but it still brought a welcome change from all the sun they'd been having recently.

She got lost in her thoughts for a minute, thinking about Wendy and Irene, her studies and that little shiny Ralts in her breeding class. She liked Wendy, she really did, the shorter girl made her laugh like no one had before, and she was incredibly nice. Literally the complete opposite of Irene, who was prickly on the best of days. But occasionally the Champion let Seulgi see underneath her armor, and what the brunette had seen made her want to get to know Irene better. Irene liked photography, as evidenced by the photos placed all around their room and was a gifted trainer who loved all of her Pokémon.

_Her Ninetales is a really strong Pokémon too, I remember in her big fight against Leeteuk when her Ninetales took out Leeteuk's Tyrantrum in one hit. It's what made me want to get an Vulpix of my own…_

Suddenly, as if fate had read her mind, an icy blue and white blur shot past her, almost stepping on her feet as it zoomed past her. Was that…?

Seulgi felt the need to give chase after the mystery Ninetales, and she carefully placed Wendy's spare helmet on the bike, shooting off a quick message to her friend's tablet that she has gone to check something out before giving chase.

The Ninetales was fast, but Seulgi had been training with her own Pokémon for years and had built up plenty of stamina to be able to keep up with the runaway Pokémon as they ran down unfamiliar streets. It wasn't looking where it was going though and soon stopped in the middle of a street, breathing heavily. A car barreled down the street, heading straight for Ninetales, who was now busy wheezing as if something had gotten in its throat.

Seulgi's eyes widened and she broke into a dead sprint, calling out to the Pokémon, "Look out!"

The Ninetales turned to her, the car getting closer with every passing second. Seulgi put every ounce of power she had in her stride, ignoring the twinge of pain still left behind from her race and shoving the Pokémon to the side of the road, diving to the side a second before the car shot past them, with what looked like a very scary man in a business suit behind the wheel.

"Get out of my way, kid!" The man roared, flipping them off as he turned another corner and drove away.

Seulgi sat dumbfounded at the man's hostility, her hands still entwined in the Ninetales' thick neck fur. Turning its regal head to face her, she saw that its nose was running a bit, which would explain why it had started coughing in the middle of the street. "You belong to Irene, don't you?"

The Ninetales nodded at the mention of her Trainer's name and sniffed at the girl's uniform. She seemed to recognize the red tie and black pin, deciding that this girl was safe to be with.

Seulgi, for her part, was trying not to freak out. She had one of the region's most prized Pokémon curled around her and was doing her best to not imagine what Irene would do to her if she found her holding her Pokémon. "I need to get back to Wendy and the bike."

She dusted herself off and gently examined the Ninetales for any wounds, giving her ears a quick scratch when she found nothing of worry, before looking at her surroundings. _Which were not familiar at all…_

"Oh damn it."

And as if the sky heard her, it began to rain.

"Double damn it. Come on Ninetales, we have to find our way back to the Academy."

XXX

Irene placed her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. Her Ninetales was always a speedy little thing, and she hadn't been keeping up with her usual standards of exercise since returning to the Academy. The rain was falling in earnest now, so she decided she needed a little bit of help to find Aeolus. "Garm, I need your help, buddy."

With a flash, her trusty Aegislash appeared, and it warbled at her questioningly. "Aeolus ran off, the stubborn little bastard, think you can help me track her?"

Garm nodded, closing his eye, a second later sending out a pulse of sound from his shield. Opening his eye, he pointed to the west. "Thanks."

Irene recalled him before pulling an umbrella out of her backpack and following in the direction her Aegislash pointed. "You damn stubborn little Ninetales…"

She walked for maybe twenty minutes before she saw her traitorous little Ninetales sitting stoically next to a mystery girl under the cover of a bus stop as the rain continued to fall. As if it heard her approaching, Aeolus yipped and ran and towards her Trainer.

"Ninetales, where are you…? Oh, Irene, hello."

"Seulgi? What are you doing out here? More importantly, what are you doing out here in the rain with my Pokémon?"

Seulgi's eyes widened and she looked as though she hoped the Champion wasn't angry. "I'm sorry, but I was out with Wendy to explore downtown when I saw your Ninetales run past me and I gave chase."

But to her surprise, Irene didn't yell at her, she simply gave the taller girl a wry smile. "Aeolus has always been hard-headed, I had to take her to the clinic today for some cold medicine and she didn't take it very well. Thanks for finding her and keeping her safe."

Seulgi was relieved. "I'm glad I could help you, Irene. Now maybe you could help me. I have literally no idea where I am or how to get back to the Academy."

Irene dug her tablet out of her backpack, and handed it to the brunette, quickly charting a course to the League HQ so they could catch a ride back to school. "I was going to head back to the League Headquarters once we got done at the clinic. Leeteuk was going to give me a ride back, you're welcome to come with. It's the least I could do."

Seulgi looked a little stunned at the raven-haired girl's friendliness, but she figured since the two of them were on more "neutral" territory, away from school, Irene probably wasn't feeling so pressured to keep up appearances.

"I'd appreciate that a lot, thanks." They lapsed into a comfortable silence as Seulgi navigated them to their destination. "Irene?" The girl hummed an acknowledgement as they walked side by side. "I'm sorry I kissed you."

The Champion turned to her, "Why are you apologizing? By the look of things I initiated it, and should be the one apologizing to you."

Seulgi shook her head vehemently. "You were clearly intoxicated, and I took advantage, so for that I sincerely apologize."

Irene looked nonplussed by it all and nodded. "Whatever you say, Seulgi."

They both stopped for a second, realizing that this was the first time Irene had called Seulgi by her name without any venom to it. Both of them stood stock still, neither one willing to start talking. Seulgi cleared her throat, "Um…"

With no warning, a bus zoomed by them, sending a torrent of dirty water straight for them. Irene quickly adjusted the grip on her umbrella and turned it so it protected both of them as the water crashed down, soaking the umbrella but leaving both girls unharmed.

"Let's get out of this rain before anything else happens," Irene mumbled, readjusting her umbrella again and refusing to look her roommate in the eyes. "Why don't you call Wendy and let her know that you're getting a ride back with me."

"Damn, you're right I need to do that," Seulgi replied hurriedly, tapping Irene's tablet and trying to call Wendy. But after several rings the line went dead and she frowned. "I'll try again in a bit, maybe she already headed back to school..."

She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of any errant thoughts, but her mind just kept wandering back to Irene and how she had effortlessly protected the two of them, even if it was from something as mundane as muddy water. _This girl is kind of amazing!_

XXX

"_Hey Wendy, I don't know if you got this message, but I'm catching a ride home with Irene, we met up while you were getting your things. I had a really fun time today, thanks again so much for showing me around…Oh, we're here? Wow, Irene, this is a nice building. Uh, anyway, so sorry for leaving on short notice, I'll explain later. Bye!"_

Wendy held her tablet with white knuckles, doing her best to take deep breaths. A long crack ran down the tablet's screen, courtesy of when she had thrown it against the wall this morning in anger. And now it had the unfortunate tendency to drop half the calls and messages she received, making it pretty much useless.

So Seulgi had met up with her roommate. Of all the people she could have met, it had to be the Champion of the Kalos region. She growled, chucking her broken tablet in her bag and revving up her bike, day thoroughly ruined now.

The rain had finally dwindled down to a light drizzle, but that did nothing to elevate Wendy's mood as she tore off back toward the Academy. _Damn that Bae Joohyun._


	13. Chapter 13

It's been two weeks since Seulgi found Irene's Ninetales wandering around the streets downtown and things had settled down in their dorm. They were no longer at each other's throats which was something she was thankful for, especially since she was getting swamped with schoolwork. Not only did she have mandatory battle strategy classes every day but Jihyo had assigned a paper in their breeding class, due next Tuesday.

Seulgi liked all the work though. She could tell that she was becoming a better Trainer and more adept at communicating with her team. Even her Vulpix was growing up quickly, picking up on things his older teammates were learning. It wouldn't be too long before he would be ready to evolve. Everything seemed to be going peachy, which meant the other shoe _had_ to drop soon.

She was in her room working on researching proper ways to incubate and keep Pokémon eggs while Irene browsed through her emails when a loud explosion erupted through the night sky. Vulpix yelped in fear and ran for the safety of the nearest person, which happened to be Irene, curling up into a tight ball in her lap and shaking like a leaf. The Champion set down her tablet and ran her fingers through the baby Pokemon's fur in attempt to soothe it.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, gently lifting the frightened Pokémon off her crossed legs to peer through the window. Students were running out of Dorm Three, but by the looks of things they were more irritated then scared. Irene felt the bed space next to her depress and scooted over so Seulgi could see. "Oh."

"Oh? Their dormitory just exploded, Irene!"

"Bah, it was bound to happen sooner or later, I told Jackson it would be a bad idea for him to keep two breeding-age male Magmortar in the same room."

Seulgi just stared at her. "You seem awfully nonchalant about this whole thing."

Irene gave her a wry smile, "You'll learn soon enough that this Academy is a strange place. Explosions like that aren't uncommon, we'll probably be given a few days off so maintenance people can repair the damage. Maybe they'll coat the walls in a fireproof material this time to prevent it from happening again."

The raven-haired girl settled back down on her bed and resumed reading on her tablet while Seulgi slowly got up to return to her desk. Sure enough, not twenty minutes had passed before both of their tablets beeped with a video alert. Seulgi pressed the icon on her tablet and message from Professor Kim popped up on-screen.

"Students of Kalos Academy. No doubt you have heard of the incident that happened just a little while ago. Rest assured that we will have this sorted out as soon as possible so as not to interfere with everyone's studies. However, the damage to Dorm Three was rather extensive and as of tomorrow morning the campus will be closed for the rest of the week while everything is repaired."

"See? Couple of free vacation days, nothing to worry about. Now are you almost done with studying; I'd like to get to bed."

"Y-yeah, I don't think I'm going to get anymore studying done at this rate." Seulgi turned off her desk lamp and retreated to her loft. Vulpix jumped off Irene's bed with a tiny thump and joined his Trainer. "Irene?"

"Yeah Seulgi?"

"Did Professor Kim say the _campus_ was going to be closed all week?"

"Mhm. What's the matter with that? Way I see it I get to relax for like five days."

Seulgi recalled her Vulpix and placed him in her overnight healer before getting changed. "I just don't have anywhere that I can go," she whispered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing Irene. Good night."

"Mmm. Night."

**Episode 5: Respite**

Of course by the next morning the whole Academy was atwitter with gossip about last night's explosion, as everyone packed their bags for the impromptu vacation. No one was more excited about this than Wendy. The time off they were given wasn't enough for her to take a trip home to Kanto to see her father, but her family had a nice enough house in the city that she could comfortably spend the week playing videogames with Joy and Yeri, eating their weight in junk food.

At least that was her plan until she saw a morose-looking Seulgi leave her dorm with a single suitcase, a frown on her face. Wendy still felt bad about how they left things a couple of weeks ago so she sidled up to her, "Hey Seul, why the long face?"

"Hello Wendy. I guess I'm just irritated about the whole campus being closed for the rest of the week. I'm a transfer student from Johto, where the hell am I going to go?"

Wendy hissed sympathetically; she had forgotten that the other girl was a transfer student. "Well hey, if you need a place to stay for the week you can come hang with me, Joy and Yeri. Dad set me up with this sweet place in the city and you're more than welcome to use one of the guest rooms."

Seulgi grinned, a wide bright smile that had Wendy's heart leaping with happiness. "Really? I wouldn't want to intrude on your break Wendy."

"Then don't," a voice called from behind them. It was Moonbyul, carrying a duffel bag in one hand. "Why stay with Wendy at her place when you can join me, Solar, Daniel, Jihyo and some others at my parents' estate? You and your roommates can totally come too Wendy, we have an indoor pool, fully stocked bar…"

Wendy's eyes widened, she knew she probably shouldn't accept the offer but some things were too great of a temptation even for her. She'd heard of the Moon estate, it was supposed to be massive. Moonbyul may be the current Hoenn champion, which came with some damn decent pay, but her parents were multi-millionaires. She turned to Seulgi, "You gonna go? It sounds like it could be a lot of fun."

"And God knows you need to unwind a little, you carried this dorm to victory it's the least I can offer," Moonbyul added.

Seulgi looked back and forth between Wendy and Moonbyul. Honestly she hadn't expected for them to be this welcoming. But it was leagues better than what she had planned to do, which was to get a hotel room somewhere, so she nodded. "I'd love to go, Moonbyul."

"Great! Our ride should be here in…" she checked her watch. "Fifteen minutes. I was just on my way to get Solar, Daniel and Jihyo."

"We'll join you then, if that's okay," Seulgi said.

"I'll text my roommates and let them know the change in plan," Wendy started tapping out a message on her newly repaired tablet.

"No problem. Like my mom always says, the more the merrier."

XXX

Irene watched Seulgi, Wendy and Moonbyul walk off in the direction of Dorm Two and for a brief second she wondered what it would be like to join them. But she figured the best use of her time would be to head out to Kiloude City for a few days so she could bond with the rest of her team.

The Kalos Champion made her way to the main building, where her ride was supposed to pick her up. But instead of the taxi she was expecting, a sleek black town car was idling in the pick-up lane. Next to it stood a large burly man in sunglasses, and Irene knew he was there for her. How did her father find out about this?

"Miss Irene, your father wishes to have a word with you."

"I'll bet he does. I however have zero interest in speaking with him so please leave." Her fingers twitched at her side, ready to call out one of her Pokémon should her father's lackey prove to be less than reasonable.

The man took off his sunglasses and sighed, reaching for his belt and calling out a Pidgeot. The large bird Pokemon squawked and landed next to him. "I apologize, but he's asked me to pick you up regardless."

Who the hell does my father think he is? I'm not some type of dog to be summoned whenever and wherever he wants. Irene took a deep calming breath. It wasn't this man's fault that he was sent to retrieve her, but she wasn't about to give in. "Zebstrika, Wild Charge."

Her Zebstrika burst out of its ball and charged forward towards the Pidgeot, sparks dancing on its fur. The poor Pidgeot only had time to back up about a foot before being struck by the attack, falling faint not a second later. "He should know better by now than to send people to bully me. I'm the strongest Trainer in Kalos, nothing he throws in my way can stop me."

The man recalled his fainted Pokemon with a small scowl and retreated back to his car. Irene's father was going to flay him alive for not bringing his daughter back like he'd requested. With a roar, the engine started up and he left.

Irene exhaled, closing her eyes and trying to will her heartbeat to return to normal. Zebstrika leaned in to nuzzle his Trainer, letting out a comforting nicker. "You're right buddy. I'm not gonna let my father ruin my week. Come on, let's go."

Dragging her roll-away suitcase behind her, the two of them walked to the main gates of the school. She was about to leave the grounds when a horn honked behind her. _If that's my father's toady again I swear…_.She turned around but instead of coming face to face with a pair of sunglasses, she saw Leeteuk. The stately champion rolled down his window and poked his head out. "Need a ride?"

"Anywhere but here," Irene replied, recalling her Zebstrika and approaching the car. Leeteuk chuckled, unlocking the back seat and waiting for his protégé to get in. "This is not how I wanted my vacation to start."

XXX

"Holy. Shit." Yeri gasped, looking out the window at the large wrought-iron gates. Just beyond them he could see an enormous, sprawling estate complete with what looked like a basketball court and multiple battling arenas. The grounds were expertly kept, and the long winding driveway to the main house was lined with trees and flowers. "I'd heard about the Moon estate but I never imagined…"

Solar giggled. "Moonbyul's parents are old money Yeri, this is just one of their houses. They stay here during the school year and always invite me over for Thanksgiving. Did you know the back of the estate leads out to one of the local beaches?"

Seulgi could almost see the young Trainer vibrating with excitement, and she agreed with her. Here she thought she'd be spending the week at a hotel, and now? Now she gets to have fun with her friends at this gorgeous retreat. "Moonbyul this place is astounding."

The Hoenn Champion grinned, leaning out the window to input the gate code. "Thanks, Seulgi. This has been my family's main base of operations ever since I started at the Academy, it'll be really nice to share it with everyone."

Several minutes and many compliments later, the shuttle bus they'd rented drifted to a stop at the front door of the Moon mansion. An older woman flung open the door and bustled outside, calling out, "Where's my girl?"

Seulgi had never seen Moonbyul smile so widely and it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. The Hoenn Champion hopped out of the bus and ran over to her mother, giving her a tight hug. "It's good to see you, Mom."

Seulgi could see the family resemblance between the two even though Moonbyul's silver hair was a far cry from her mother's natural hair color. Solar was the next to exit and Moonbyul's mother wrapped her up in a similarly tight embrace.

"There's my future daughter-in-law! Are you keeping my baby under control?"

Solar beamed, "To the best of my abilities, Mrs. Moon. It's a full-time job though."

Moonbyul's cheeks colored as she half-heartedly slapped her girlfriend's arm. "Mom, I'd like you to meet my friends. Since the school's being closed to deal with the damage done by the explosion I thought I'd invite them all here for the week."

By now everyone had disembarked and Joy and Yeri were sorting everyone's luggage for them. "It's no problem at all, Byul. Like I always say, the more the—"

"Yeah, the more the merrier." Moonbyul began pointing at each person in order and introducing them. "We have Wendy, Joy and Yeri from Dorm One. Wendy's got a wicked sense of strategy, I hope she doesn't come for my title one day. The two token heterosexuals that are busy making heart eyes at each other are Daniel and Jihyo, from Dorms Two and Three. And this is—"

"Ah, you're Seulgi!" Moonbyul's mother exclaimed. Seulgi was pleasantly surprised that the older woman knew her name. "Byul sent me the videos from the dorm competition, you're a very talented Trainer."

Seulgi blushed. "Please, I'm not nearly as accomplished as the people standing here with me."

Mrs. Moon tutted in disapproval, "Don't sell yourself short dearie, it takes a special kind of person to be able to pull victory from the jaws of defeat like that." She turned to face the rest of the group. "I bet you're all hungry after the drive up here, why don't you put your things inside and I'll make us lunch."

As she walked back inside, Wendy whispered to Moonbyul, "Your mother is amazing, I love her."

"She is kind of great, isn't she? Don't get too comfortable though, we've got work to do after we eat."

"Work?" Joy butted in, "I thought this was supposed to be a break?"

Moonbyul shrugged. "Mom always taught me to value hard work. In exchange for staying here we're going to work down the road at the Pokémon shelter our family runs. Don't knock it til you try it though, it's a lot of fun."

The mansion had eight different guest rooms, all of them styled after a different Pokémon type. Solar and Moonbyul immediately claimed the one with a king-sized bed that had been modeled to represent the Water type. Seulgi got the chance to peek inside while everyone was unpacking their things.

Daniel and Jihyo took the rooms that had been decorated with red and green respectively, though Seulgi was pretty sure that they'd probably end up only using one room. Wendy, Joy and Yeri staked their claims on the Dark, Ghost and Psychic rooms so that they were all next to each other. In fact, she found Yeri and Wendy jumping on Joy's bed, while the latter looked on impassively. Seulgi giggled; Joy would have her hands full with them.

At the end of the hall was a room with a large window that overlooked a small cliff that reached out to the beach below. Seulgi placed her things on the bed and hummed in satisfaction as she looked at the soft blueish-white walls. _This one must be decorated to represent the Flying-type. _

There was a soft knock on the door and Seulgi turned around to see Solar. "Mrs. Moon says lunch will be ready in ten minutes."

"Thanks. I still can't get over this place, it's more than I could have ever imagined."

The older girl smiled. "You're taking this better than I did the first time Byul took me here. I freaked out, I was so worried that her family wouldn't like me. Not because we had started dating, but because they were just so much…richer than I was. Back then I was just a Coordinator that was just starting to make a name for herself. But her entire family was so genuinely nice that by the second day they had already started calling me their future daughter-in-law."

"How long have you two been together, anyway?"

"Almost three years now. Byul and I visit here during winter break to spend time with her family. I'll have to show you around later, this whole estate is incredible. The town puts on a monthly festival down at the beach too, and we're in luck. It's happening tonight."

Solar migrated to sit on Seulgi's bed and the two of them lapsed into conversation until Wendy poked her head in, "Didn't you guys hear? It's lunch time."

"We'll be right there!"

As Seulgi looked out the window one last time, a warm feeling settled in her chest. _So this is what it's like to have really good friends. I can't believe how lucky I am. _


	14. Chapter 14

After everyone ate lunch and took a short break to decompress from the trip up to Moonbyul's place, Mrs. Moon hustled them out the front door and down to the bottom of the street where the Pokémon shelter had been built.

It sat on the edge of the Moon Estate and was a set of three small but modern-looking buildings that overlooked several enclosed fields and pens where Pokémon could roam free. A short path led from the back of the main building down to the beach where another fenced-in area had been placed for those Pokémon that enjoyed the water.

"How long has your family operated this shelter?" Seulgi asked as the group of them approached the building.

"I wanna say seven or eight years? This place isn't as big as some of the region-run shelters so we're almost always at full capacity. Volunteers count as most of the workforce and some of the other neighbors in the area look after the shelter too." Moonbyul swiped a keycard in front of the locked door and opened it up, ushering everyone inside.

Once everyone was inside, Moonbyul shut the door behind them and turned on some of the lights. "This is the intake building, if a Trainer finds they can no longer take care of a Pokémon, they can bring it here to find a new home. We also take in injured wild Pokémon and have a separate building for them so they can recover without feeling overwhelmed by people."

The lobby was nicely decorated and felt homey, with several plush couches lining one wall. A large bulletin board detailing some of the shelter's happy endings hung from another. Seulgi read a few of the happy letters that had been pinned to the corkboard and smiled. _Lucky, a three legged Leafeon found his forever home with ten-year old Hayley, who says that in a few years they'll be the new Kalos Champions. _

_Thank you so much for taking in my grandfather's Sawsbuck after he passed. I hope Rudy finds a Trainer who will love him as much as my Gramps did. _And just under that letter was another one. _Rudy's doing fantastic with our program, he's really taken to working with the patients in Physical Therapy and he's so gentle with them. Forget having one loving Trainer, Rudy has eleven! _

"Come on back, guys! There are extra work clothes and a place to put your things just down the hall."

Hearing the summons, Seulgi tore her gaze away from the bulletin board and followed her friends into the back rooms. A set of work clothes were already laid out for her and while they were a little big on her, they were comfortable enough and soon she was standing in a large kennel attempting to stifle a squeal as she saw a litter of the cutest Poochyena playing with each other.

"I knew you'd like this room, this is where the little ones stay until they're old enough to be placed with new families. These little guys were found by the side of the road in a cardboard box, it's a miracle none of them got injured," Moonbyul knelt down and was immediately accosted by the puppy Pokémon. She laughed as they attempted to climb all over her.

"Who would do such a thing?" Seulgi asked as she followed Moonbyul's lead, giggling when one of them started pulling at her shoelaces, letting out the cutest growl. She picked it up and plopped it in her lap, scratching behind its ears.

"Plenty of people, to be perfectly honest. When Mom first got them in here she noticed that all of them had been extremely well bred. Now I'm not one to make any judgements since we don't _actually_ know why they'd been abandoned, but it looks like some Trainer was breeding a ton of them in an attempt to get a shiny one."

Seulgi's hand stilled, and the sudden lack of attention caused the Poochyena to tilt its head back to look at her. "That's barbaric."

Moonbyul hummed in agreement, picking herself off the floor and displacing the puppies that were surrounding her. She offered a hand to Seulgi who gladly accepted, gently placing her newfound friend back with its littermates. "You've seen how much money some shiny Pokémon sell for, that doesn't make it right but what matters now is that these little ones are safe. We even have the Academy's security division coming out here next month to test the pups and see if any of them would make good guard Pokémon."

"Well I for one definitely think you have a few good candidates here."

Moonbyul chuckled. "I almost forgot, we met for the first time at the kennels. I still don't approve of the way Irene treated you, but I have to admit, if not for her I don't know if we would have ever gotten acquainted."

The two of them joined back up with the rest of the volunteer party who were busy cleaning up and repairing a section of broken fence in one of the play areas. Seulgi picked up a pair of work gloves and a hammer, falling in line next to Jihyo and getting to work. _ I wonder what Irene's doing right now?_

XXX

A few hours later, Leeteuk's black town car stopped in front of a familiar set of wrought-iron gates.

"Why do I feel like I've been tricked?" Irene grumbled as the car she was riding in drove smoothly down a familiar tree-lined road. She thought Leeteuk would take her to one of the local League buildings but instead she found herself right outside of the Moon estate.

Leeteuk shot her a small smile. "I know you haven't been spending a lot of time with your friends recently, so I figured what better way to reconnect with them? Besides, you and I both know that Moonbyul's mother won't take no for an answer."

Irene had to agree with the last statement. Moonbyul's mother was everything her father wasn't, and it admittedly left her more than a bit jealous to see the Hoenn Champion with her family, talking and joking around. "I suppose this isn't the worst idea you've had…"

The car came to a stop outside of the manor, and Leeteuk helped Irene take her things out from the trunk. Moonbyul's mother hurried outside to greet them with a huge smile on her face that Irene couldn't help but return. She was quickly swept up in a warm embrace, which made Irene's heart ache with longing.

"Joohyun. I'm so glad you decided to join us after all! It wouldn't be the same without you."

"It took a bit of persuasion on Leeteuk's part, but I'm here now. Are Moonbyul and Solar here yet?"

"They got here this morning, along with the rest of their friends. Everyone's down by the beach right now, they deserved a break after I made them volunteer at the shelter."

Irene smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like months. She remembered visiting here for the first time with Moonbyul, and immediately being put to work by the Moon matriarch. _Hard work is the best character-builder out there. I started Moonbyul early and look where my baby is now. Champion of the whole Hoenn region!_

"I'm sorry I missed it, Leeteuk and I had a few things to do before making our way over here."

Mrs. Moon tutted, "Nonsense, there's plenty of time for you to visit the shelter later this week. You did make it in time for the Beachside Festival though. Why don't you set your things down in one of the guest rooms and then help me get started on dinner?"

"Aye-aye ma'am," Irene grinned, grabbing her suitcase from the back of Leeteuk's car. She had to admit, Leeteuk knew how to make her day. "Leeteuk are you staying for dinner?"

Leeteuk tried to brush off the request but one look from Moonbyul's mother had him stepping back in surprise. "I guess I am. I have to warn you though Mrs. Moon, I am not a good cook whatsoever."

XXX

"Whoa, something smells delicious," Seulgi stopped in her tracks at the good smells wafting through the house. The seven of them had just come back up to the house after playing at the beach, and while she was bone-tired from their work at the shelter she was too content to let it bother her.

"This entire day we've been in heaven and it's just gotten better," Wendy agreed, turning her head in the direction of the kitchen. The two of them let their noses lead the way and before they knew it they were standing in the doorframe to the kitchens. Seulgi's jaw dropped.

"Wendy, am I hallucinating or is Leeteuk, renowned Kalos Champion, standing in Moonbyul's kitchen?"

"Oh good, you see him too. He's also wearing a chef hat, right?"

Seulgi nodded. She couldn't believe that the region's best Pokémon trainer was chopping up vegetables a few feet from her. Leeteuk looked up from his task and shot the two girls a winning smile.

"Hey there! You must be some of Moonbyul's friends."

"Y-you're Leeteuk," Wendy stammered. "And you're wearing a chef's hat."

"Don't let the hat fool you, the only thing he's allowed to do is chop vegetables, otherwise he'd burn the house down," said a voice from behind Leeteuk.

Leeteuk placed the knife he was using over his heart and feigned sadness. "You wound me, Joohyun. I _tried_ to tell Mrs. Moon that I would be less help than a Magikarp but would she listen?"

"Irene!" Seulgi grinned as the other girl appeared behind Leeteuk to grab the vegetables he'd chopped up. "I didn't know you were coming."

The Champion smiled gently at Seulgi, "You can thank Leeteuk, I _was_ going to spend the week up in Kiloude with my Pokémon but I was unfairly kidnapped and brought here."

"Hey," Leeteuk interjected, "I don't see you complaining about things."

Seulgi and Wendy were dumbfounded at the way the two Champions were bickering back and forth like a pair of siblings. It certainly shattered more than a few preconceived notions of the powerful Trainers.

"Do you guys need help with dinner?" Seulgi asked, remembering her manners. It would be rude of her to stand here and watch them argue without offering to help them cook.

Irene shook her head. "It's okay, we're almost done here anyway. Besides, as much as I'd love an extra pair of hands in the kitchen I'm afraid Leeteuk would take it as an invitation to slack off even more."

Leeteuk stuck his tongue out at his mentee childishly and threw a piece of carrot at Irene. Seulgi couldn't help the smile that grew, it was a rare treat to see her roommate smile and joke around so carelessly. Leeteuk must be very important to her, she thought as she continued to observe them.

"We'll let you guys go then," Wendy piped up, dragging Seulgi out of the kitchen by her sleeve. As soon as they were out of earshot she playfully smacked Seulgi upside the head. "I know you have a crush on Irene but damn, make it more obvious why don't you?"

Seulgi pouted, "I do _not_ have a crush on Irene."

Wendy scoffed, "Oh please, you were giving our Champion the biggest heart-eyes I've ever seen and I've seen Jihyo and Daniel looking at each other like lovesick puppies."

"Is it that obvious?"

Wendy sighed. She had taken the last couple of weeks since their outing downtown to do some serious thinking. She liked Seulgi a lot, sure, but it had become painfully clear that the taller girl was harboring feelings for her roommate. Wendy knew she wanted Seulgi in her life and so even if it was just as a friend, she'd be happy. Didn't mean it was easy, but Wendy was slowly getting the hang of things.

"Little bit. Look, if you like Irene just tell her. I can tell you right now that you're one of the few people I've seen Irene give that smile to."

"There's no way Irene likes me like that. We've only just gotten our relationship past the whole 'I hate you' phase."

"That's how all epic romances begin isn't it? Enemies-to lovers? Give it a few weeks and you'll be in the middle of an argument when suddenly the two of you will start making out passionately." Seulgi looked horrified and Wendy chuckled. "But seriously though Seul, it's okay if you like Irene."

Seulgi sat down on one of the benches outside the kitchen. "My plan wasn't to start crushing on the Kalos Champion. Get to know her, yes. Become friends, maybe if the stars aligned."

Wendy sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Love doesn't work like that though it just smacks you in the face with a big 'fuck you'." She paused, unsure if she should tell Seulgi this next bit. "It's how I felt about you."

Seulgi looked up at her, "You…liked me?"

"What's not to like, you're gorgeous, smart, you always give me that exasperated look when I tell you I didn't do my homework."

"But I fell for Irene," Seulgi whispered. "I'm so sorry, Wendy."

Wendy shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Seul. I admit when I saw that picture of you two kissing it threw me, but I realized that there's enough of women hating other women because of love in this world. I'm not gonna be the kind of person that gets angry just because my feelings aren't reciprocated. I'd rather have you as a friend than not at all."

Seulgi took one of Wendy's hands in her own. "Thank you for telling me, Wendy. I know it wasn't easy. And I for one feel so, _so_ honored to call you my best friend." The two of them shared a hug, Seulgi resting her head on Wendy's shoulder. She could feel something wet soaking through her shirt.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be a blubbering mess," Wendy sniffled. Seulgi shook her head and gently wiped the tears from the other girl's eyes. It must have been really hard for Wendy to confess, knowing that Seulgi already had feelings for someone else.

"I will always be here to love and support you Wendy. I knew from the moment you grinned at me when I threw that tennis ball in Taeyong's face that something precious was there."

Wendy sniffled, and shot Seulgi a watery grin. "Don't make this too cheesy, Seulgi."

Seulgi laughed, "Gotcha. Come on, let's go back to your room and get you all fixed up before dinner. Runny mascara looks good on no one."

"Are you insinuating that I can't rock this look?" Wendy gestured to her face, runny mascara and all

"That's exactly what I'm insinuating. Besides, the beach festival is in a couple hours what if you find your special someone there?"

"Oh god, you're right. Fix me up Seul, I got girls to hunt for."

XXX

Dinner was a rowdy affair with eleven people to feed, but Seulgi didn't think she could have had a more fun time. Wendy still looked a little down, but their relationship had improved a thousand fold with their conversation earlier. After the meal they retreated back to their rooms to get ready for the beach festival. Seulgi put on a pair of denim short shorts and a white short-sleeved shirt, since the weather was still so nice out. She met back up with their group of friends and walked down to the beach.

Seulgi was awestruck. The whole beach had been set up with various food and souvenir stalls, and people and Pokémon alike were enjoying the evening. She reached for her belt and called out her Vulpix as their group started to break apart to enjoy the festival. Moonbyul and Solar went to go talk with some of the townspeople and she saw Jihyo and Daniel break off to take a walk together by the beach. Even Wendy broke off from the group to look at some clothes with Joy and Yeri.

"Guess it's just you and me buddy," she said, scratching the fur behind his ears and her Vulpix growled in contentment.

"Room for one more?" a voice behind her asked. Seulgi turned around to see Irene and her Alolan Ninetales.

"Always," she replied, falling into step with the Kalos Champion as they walked around the festival together. Seulgi's Vulpix had quickly taken a shine to Irene's Ninetales and the two fox Pokémon were running a few meters in front of their Trainers, playing around in the sand. Seulgi and Irene walked in companionable silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. "You didn't tell me you could cook, Irene."

"You never asked. I had to do a lot of cooking before I came to the Academy, I fell out of the habit after I became Champion."

"It definitely doesn't show, that food was amazing."

"I'm glad you liked it, even if I did have the region's worst cook helping me out." Irene looked at Seulgi with a happy smile, her eyes turning into half-crescents. Seulgi's answering smile was shy as they lapsed into silence again.

_Wow, Seulgi looks fantastic tonigh_t, Irene thought. Her shorts showed off just how often the taller girl exercised, and wow were her thigh muscles impressive. Seulgi had moved a few feet in front of her to keep an eye on her Pokémon, which gave Irene a great view of her backside. _Whoa there, down girl,_ Irene had to scold herself. _We're roommates, nothing more._

"Irene come look at this!" Irene was jolted out of her reverie by Seulgi's excited call. She sighed and followed her roommate to a small stall at the end of the row that looked to be selling jewelry and elemental stones. Seulgi had picked up a Fire Stone and was chatting animatedly with the shopkeep, an old woman with wrinkled skin and bright eyes. "I've been looking for a Fire Stone for a while, when Vulpix gets old enough I want him to be able to choose which form to evolve into. Fire Stones are pretty rare in Alola."

Irene was unable to keep a smile off her face as Seulgi turned back to the shopkeep to ask about prices. The other girl was truly a thoughtful and incredible Trainer to think of both methods of evolution in order to give her Vulpix a choice.

The shopkeeper easily agreed to trade Seulgi the Fire Stone she wanted for a Golden Bottle Cap from Alola. As the two of them completed the transaction, Irene felt her gaze getting drawn to a small heart-shaped scale on the table.

It glittered with all the colors of the rainbow and there was something about it that made Irene curious. She'd heard of these scales before but had never seen one in real life. "Is this a Heart Scale?"

The shopkeep nodded, impressed with her knowledge. "Yes, some people find them beautiful and enjoy collecting them. There are others still who think Heart Scales contain some kind of mystical power that we haven't yet discovered."

Seulgi leaned over Irene's shoulder to take a look at the scale. The closeness would have previously made Irene freak out but somehow when it came to Seulgi nothing made sense. "I've seen a few in the Alola Region. There's an old tale that if you hold a Heart Scale it will glow when you're in the presence of who you're meant to spend the rest of your life with. That's why most weddings in our region make use of them in the ceremony."

The shopkeep winked at the pair. There was something very special about the bond between these two girls, if only they could see it. Irene huffed. "That sounds completely ridiculous." The Champion picked up the Heart Scale and held it in her hand. Irene and Seulgi shared a glance and waited with bated breath. Of course nothing happened. "See? It's just a story."

Seulgi shook her head. "You can decide whether to believe it or not Irene. Fairy tale or not, there's gotta be some truth to it."

"Hey guys, Solar and Moonbyul found a few of the locals to start a beach volleyball game with, you wanna join?" Wendy, Joy and Yeri sped past them with a volleyball. Seulgi grinned, thanked the shopkeep one last time and ran with them over to the courts, leaving Irene staring at the Heart Scale.

"There's gotta be some truth to it?" Irene thought, turning the scale over in her hands. "Ma'am? How much is this scale?"

The shopkeep tutted, "For you dear, it's free. You're young, you never know when you'll find that special someone."

Irene looked over her shoulder at Seulgi and Wendy. The latter was busy complaining that if both Seulgi and Moonbyul were on the same team it'd be cheating since they were the tallest. "I don't think love is in my cards anytime soon."

"You never know, love seems to always find its way to people who are looking for it." Irene gave her a quizzical look and put the scale in her back pocket. "Even if they don't know it."

The old woman waved goodbye to Irene as she turned away to join her friends on the court, chuckling under her breath as Irene's back pocket began to glow with a soft blue light. "Not all fairy tales are false."


	15. Chapter 15

Later that night after everyone had their fill of fun at the beach festival, Seulgi walked back up to her room feeling completely content. The whole day had been fulfilling, from volunteering at the Pokémon shelter to finally getting to talk in-depth with Wendy. Even the volleyball game was fun, even though her team lost badly to Moonbyul, Solar and Joy. Irene, Wendy and Jihyo were amazing Pokémon Trainers, of that she had no doubt, but volleyball players they were not. Irene managed to get hit by the ball not once, but four times. The frustrated face she made though was one of the cutest things Seulgi had ever seen.

Moonbyul mentioned that if she wanted to relax before going to bed, the manor had a sauna on its grounds. Which of course it did because Moonbyul's house had everything. Man, Solar was one lucky girl. Seulgi rifled through her suitcase, grabbing a bikini top and some comfortable cotton shorts along with a towel.

As luck would have it, the way down to the sauna took her past Irene's room, so as she walked by she casually poked her head inside to see if the Champion had returned. She found Irene sitting on a chaise lounge outside on the balcony, staring up at the stars. Seulgi smiled and was about to turn and leave when Irene called to her. "I can see your reflection in the window."

"Sorry, I was headed down to the sauna to relax before bed. This manor is ridiculous." Seulgi placed her things by the door and joined Irene outside.

Irene snorted, "Yeah, it definitely takes some getting used to. I imagine Solar already talked to you about how she felt when she first met Byul." She tilted her head back to take in the sight of the stars above her. The view was incredible, untainted by the light pollution coming from the city. Back at the Academy she was lucky if she managed to see even a few stars at night. "You enjoyed the festival?"

Seulgi nodded, "I did. My Vulpix and your Ninetales seemed to hit it off too, I was surprised."

"Me too, normally my girl is pretty wary around other people and Pokémon. But then again she did become rather attached to you, so you learn new things everyday…Oh!" Irene turned and picked something up off the arm of the chaise lounge, giving it to Seulgi.

"A Heart Scale? You ended up buying it?" Seulgi turned the scale over in her hand, warmth spreading in her chest as she thought about Irene.

"I was going to buy it, but the lady ended up giving it to me for free. It's for you, I figured after all that's happened in the last month it'd be nice to maybe start over. I wasn't the most welcoming roommate, and I said some things that I regret. Think of this as a peace offering."

Seulgi's mega-watt smile appeared on her face and Irene couldn't help but smile in return. "It's beautiful, Irene. Thank you. So…start over, you said?"

Irene nodded warily. "What are you thinking?"

Seulgi stood up and offered her hand to Irene. "Hi, I'm Kang Seulgi from Alola. I'm your new roommate."

The older girl scoffed but took Seulgi's hand. "Hi there Seulgi, I'm Bae Joohyun, Champion of the Kalos region. You can call me Irene."

The two of them dissolved into giggles. "Okay that was a little stupid," Seulgi said. "But I still liked it."

"Seulgi?" Irene looked a little worried.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"I really am sorry about how I treated you. It wasn't fair of me to kick you out. Can you forgive me?"

Seulgi turned to Irene, still clutching the Heart Scale in her hand. "We started out rocky, I'll admit. But there's nothing to forgive. In a way, I'm glad things turned out how they did. If you hadn't kicked me out the first night I never would have met Moonbyul." She gestured to the entire room behind them. "And then we probably wouldn't be here right now. Sometimes things happen for a reason."

Irene sat back down. "You know maybe you're right. And I'll tell you one thing, Seulgi. You're unlike any girl I've ever met before."

Irene shifted over to one side of the chaise lounge and patted the space next to her. Seulgi sat down next to her and held the Heart Scale up to the stars. "To new beginnings then."

Their hands were so close that they were almost touching, but neither girl had the courage to make the first move. So Irene simply settled for saying, "To new beginnings. And this time we'll do it right."

XXX

To start off their rekindled friendship, Seulgi invited Irene to go with her to the sauna, and the older girl agreed to join her. The two of them stood outside of the small sauna moments later, noticing that the power had already turned on. Someone must already be in there. They thought nothing of it though and Irene gestured for Seulgi to make the first move.

Seulgi grabbed the door handle, and finding it unlocked she pushed it open. Relaxing sauna time here we…

There was a girly scream as she opened the door wide open and Jihyo jolted off Daniel's lap as if she had been burned, trying to cover herself as Seulgi and Irene stared blankly at the couple. Daniel coughed in embarrassment as he reached for the towels and threw one to his girlfriend. Once everyone was decent the four of them just stood together awkwardly in the sauna as the steam billowed around them.

"So…let's agree not to mention this to anyone, okay?" Irene broke the awkward silence.

"Mhm."

"Yep."

"Please."

Seulgi cleared her throat and tried her best not to stare at Jihyo's chest. But wow, had she been blessed in that area. Irene must have noticed her expression, and she felt the other girl grab one of her hands and tug her towards the exit. "We'll come back later then."

Jihyo waved awkwardly at them as they left before collapsing on the sauna bench with her head in her hands. "That was mortifying."

Daniel scooted closer to her. "But we're alone now."

Jihyo looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "You still want to…even after they came in?"

He tilted his head, signature grin on his face. "But this time let's lock the door."

Jihyo rolled her eyes and pulled her boyfriend in for a kiss. Time for attempt number two.

**XXX**

**Episode 6: Realizations **

**XXX**

The next morning saw Seulgi blearily opening her eyes as the sun shone through the large window in her room, almost blinding her. Last night had been magical, and she wasn't just talking about the beach festival. For the first time since she transferred to the Academy she felt as if things were truly, finally going her way.

She and Irene had returned to the older girl's room to talk after their unsuccessful outing to the sauna, and it was an enlightening experience. Irene told her stories from her adventures as an up-and-coming Trainer and showed Seulgi plenty of pictures of her old team.

Seulgi could see the shadow that came over Irene's face whenever a picture of her Charizard appeared on the screen, but the Champion held back on showing any other emotion. It was obvious that Irene still hadn't healed from the trauma of losing her partner, so Seulgi didn't push her into talking about him.

Seulgi found herself falling more and more for Irene as the night wore on. The way her eyes twinkled as the raven-haired Trainer recalled an experience pranking Moonbyul and Solar made a warm feeling spread through Seulgi's chest. Irene's laugh was full and genuine, causing Seulgi to laugh with her. They finally called it quits around three in the morning and Seulgi reluctantly returned to her room down the hall.

Seulgi blindly reached for her bedside table, her hand brushing over Irene's Heart Scale before settling on her belt. Making sure her team was safely by her side she levered herself into an upright position and stretched. It would have been a nice quiet start to her morning too, until a loud noise blasted through the vents, making her jolt in surprise.

"What the hell?" She slapped her hands over her ears as the sound got louder.

"LOUDRED! LOUDRED, LOUDRED!" A Pokémon?

Moonbyul breezed past her room, "Time to get up, Seulgi!" The Hoenn Champion didn't seem at all bothered by the cacophonous sound. Solar followed a few seconds later, wrapping a robe around her body, still-half asleep but not surprised.

As the noise died down, Seulgi put on some slippers and shuffled downstairs, where the rest of their motley crew gathered moments later in various states of undress. Mrs. Moon joined them, "I'm glad to see you all woke up in a timely manner! Breakfast is ready, I hope you all are ready for another day of work."

No one had the guts to tell her otherwise.

Still, despite the early wake-up call the nine of them quickly adjusted. The spread of food on the table made up for it too. Seulgi sat between Wendy and Yeri as they piled food on their plates. Daniel and Jihyo passed out coffee to everyone, earning them lots of smiles in return.

Breakfast was over in a flurry of utensils and delicious pancakes, and soon Seulgi found herself back at the Pokémon shelter, filing paperwork at the office building with Solar while Irene and Joy mopped the floors.

The work was a little tedious, but it allowed her to spend most of the morning with Irene so she considered that a win. Solar seemed to know that something was going on, she kept sending understanding glances to Seulgi and once even gave the younger girl a subtle thumbs-up as Seulgi tore her gaze away from Irene while the Champion tried to clean one of the window panes that was up way too high for her to reach.

Joy huffed in frustration upon noticing her friend trying unsuccessfully to be subtle with her staring. "Yes, we know, Irene has a fantastic ass, quit staring."

Seulgi froze, but luckily Joy had muttered it quietly enough that Irene didn't hear. "Joy," she hissed.

The other girl seemed unperturbed. "Quit being so obvious then. Also, you were so busy staring that the last twelve papers were filed incorrectly."

Seulgi looked down. Damn, Joy was right.

XXX

After lunch they got back to work, but this time Seulgi was working with Jihyo and Moonbyul as they supervised one of the play yards. Which Seulgi thought was probably a good thing. Having Irene around would probably just distract her.

Like they promised last night, Jihyo and Seulgi didn't bring up the sauna incident but nevertheless they seemed to be getting closer as Jihyo pointed out certain behaviors when the Pokémon played together, teaching Seulgi about how to correctly judge a Pokémon's demeanor.

"Some Pokémon are more open about letting someone know if they want to play or not. Take that Linoone over there, it's trying to get Galvantula to play even though it doesn't want to. See the way Galvantula has backed up towards that tree? It's trying to tell Linoone that it doesn't want to be pushed. If the Linoone was smart it would understand the signals it's being given."

There was a pause and then an undignified yelp as the Linoone ran away from the spider Pokémon, the end of its tail smoldering slightly.

"I guess Linoone still has a lot to learn," Seulgi commented as the Linoone hid behind Moonbyul, cowering. "You really know a lot about Pokémon behavior, don't you Jihyo?"

"I've known since I was five that I wanted to be a breeder, to learn what makes Pokémon tick and to help them unlock their potential. Battling was never my thing, so I get my enjoyment from observing Pokémon and watching from the sidelines as the Pokémon I breed go on to accomplish great things." Jihyo leaned against the fence.

"You've bred Pokémon for gym leaders and Elite Four Trainers before, right?" Seulgi knew that a Trainer was truly considered lucky if they received a Pokémon bred by Jihyo.

"I got a lot of clout recently when one of the Pokémon I bred with Nayeon went on to win the Galar Gym Challenge. I try to tell people that breeding a Pokémon is only one part of it. You know the whole nature vs. nurture thing. I give Trainers a well-made blank canvas but it's up to them to determine what goes on it."

Seulgi nodded. She thought that was a very astute observation. Seulgi thought back to the little shiny Ralts she met a few weeks ago in class. "I admit before I came here I didn't know why there was a separate major track for Pokémon Breeders at the Academy but I think I understand it more now. Just because your work is more behind-the-scenes doesn't mean it's any less valuable."

Jihyo chuckled. "That's funny, Daniel said something along those same lines when we first met. It _is_ nice to get to talk to people who understand or are willing to learn about what goes on with Pokémon breeding."

They continued talking for what felt like days but in reality was probably only an hour or two before Wendy's group dropped by to tell them it was time to go home.

The nine of them reconvened out on the deck an hour later after washing up. Moonbyul and Solar shared a lounge chair, as did Jihyo and Daniel. Everyone looked exhausted but they were still chatting animatedly back and forth and enjoying the sun.

Moonbyul sat up. "You know what we need after a long day of work?"

Everyone looked at her. Solar gave her a wary glance, as if she knew what her girlfriend was planning. Moonbyul reached over her to drag a heavy bucket into view. It was filled with what looked like water balloons. She grabbed a few and balanced them in one hand while she used the other to call out one of her Pokémon. A Nidoking appeared and Moonbyul swiftly mounted her loyal Pokémon.

"WATER FIGHT!" Moonbyul grinned devilishly atop her Nidoking and she tossed a water balloon at Solar before running away, who squealed as it popped, soaking her from head to toe.

"Moon Byulyi, get back here!" Solar called out a Nidoqueen and gave chase after her girlfriend. Things devolved from there as everyone called out their biggest Pokémon to ride on, arming themselves with water guns and water balloons from the nearby cache. Seulgi's eyes lit up as the deck soon became drenched in water. Moonbyul definitely planned this, if the sheer scope of available toys was anything to go by.

Yeri breezed by on her Arcanine, dual-wielding water guns and shooting them at anyone unlucky enough to stand in her way. Joy sat behind her on the giant dog Pokémon, lobbing water balloons at whoever she could reach.

Seulgi had called out her Bewear and got on his back, grabbing the closest weapon to join in the fight. She noticed though that everyone was playing together except for Irene. The other girl was sitting on the sidelines, watching the fight with a small smile on her face. Seulgi bounded over to her. "Why aren't you joining in?"

"I would, but my only rideable Pokémon is Zebstrika and he isn't good with water. You know, the whole electric mane thing would end the fun real quick. I'm more than happy to watch."

"Come on, Irene, you know you want to." Seulgi patted her Bewear's back. "Mr. Fuzzles is more than strong enough to carry us both."

Irene's brows furrowed and she giggled. "Mr. Fuzzles?"

Seulgi's face turned red. "I was five when I named him and now he won't respond to anything else…come on, oh great Champion. We can't let Yeri and Joy steal the show!" She reached out a hand to Irene.

Irene shook her head with a sigh but got up, taking Seulgi's hand and allowing herself to be lifted up onto the Bewear's back. Seulgi directed her partner over to where the water guns were being kept and grabbed one for herself and for Irene. "Hold on tight, Irene. We're gonna make Moonbyul wish she picked another activity."

The Bewear surged forward, catching Irene off-balance. She instinctively wrapped her free arm around Seulgi's waist to keep from falling off. Seulgi for one was glad they weren't facing each other, otherwise Irene would be able to see the stupid smile that appeared when she felt the other girl's hand on her waist.

The two of them chased after Moonbyul as peals of laughter echoed around the Moon estate. Hard work did indeed deserve hard play.

Little did they know though that a nondescript grey sedan parked at the bottom of the hill, and someone was sitting in it, watching the fun unfold. A camera sat in his hand, and he settled into wait for an opportune moment to strike. He may not legally be allowed to use the photo the Academy student showed him, but if he could find his own proof? If he could find proof that Bae Joohyun was gay his career would be made. And hers would be ruined.


	16. Chapter 16

**THREE YEARS LATER**

'Twas the night before Christmas Eve and everyone in Dorm One at the Kalos Academy had been summoned to the common room by their captain, Moonbyul. Kang Seulgi and her girlfriend Bae Joohyun were among some of the last to file in. Wendy waved when she saw the two of them and motioned with her hand for them to join her, Joy and Yeri. Seulgi squeezed in between Wendy and Yeri while Irene sat perched on the end of the sofa. Moonbyul arrived not a second later with her fiancée Solar, carrying a comically oversized Santa hat and wearing her signature mischievous grin.

"Thanks for coming everyone. Now, as some of you might not know, the holiday season around here is a special time. Every year the dorm captains are in charge of organizing an event to bring together all three dorms to celebrate the holidays, and this year it was Namjoon and I's turn to host." Moonbyul handed the hat to Solar and reached inside, pulling out a pile of tiny slips of paper.

"Everyone's name at the Academy has been written on a piece of paper," Solar explained. "I'll come around with the hat, and all you have to do is pick one. You'll have twenty-four hours from now to find a gift for them, and we'll exchange them tomorrow night at dinner!"

"We've already been around to dorms Two and Three, but that doesn't mean you won't get someone from there. There's also technically not a limit on how much you can spend on your person either but be reasonable and keep in mind that not everyone can afford to gift something extravagant." Moonbyul put back the papers she'd taken out and gave the hat a vigorous shake. Passing the hat off to her fiancée she grinned. "Good luck, and I hope you all have fun finding your presents!"

XXX

Have Yourself a Very Seulrene Christmas

XXX

Ten minutes later everyone had drawn their assigned person, and the common room was empty save for Seulgi, Wendy and a few other students.

"Damn it," Seulgi swore under her breath, crumpling up the bit of paper she'd drawn and stuffing it in her pocket. Out of all the people she could have drawn…

"Don't like who you drew for Secret Santa?" Wendy asked, staring angrily at her own piece of paper like it had insulted her. "I can relate. Who'd you get stuck with, Taeyong?"

Seulgi grimaced, looking around stealthily before beckoning Wendy close. "Honestly I wish, I'd rather shop for him. I got Irene."

Wendy's eyes widened and she smiled. "Why are you so worried then? Out of all the people at this Academy that you could have picked, you picked your girlfriend."

"Because, Wendy, I don't know what to get for the Champion who has everything, or at least has the money to get everything. All Irene has to do is bat her eyes in the direction of a sponsor and they load her up with merchandise and deals. What if I get her something she already has?" By now Seulgi was working herself into a miniature panic attack and Wendy put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Seul, don't think about all that. Just trust yourself, chances are she'll really like it. Even if it _is_ something she already has, it'll mean the world because it's coming from _you._" That little nugget of holiday wisdom from her best friend made Seulgi's eyes mist up. She pulled the shorter girl close for a hug.

"Thank you, Wendy. What in the world would I do without you?"

"Probably flounder and over-analyze every interaction you have with Irene. However, there's something you can do for me." Wendy showed Seulgi her secret santa and the other girl laughed.

"What are the chances? I _knew_ you had a crush on him." Seulgi thought for a second. "But wait, I thought Joy drew Eunwoo's name from the hat, she was complaining about it earlier to Moonbyul. She even tried to put his name back in the hat."

"Oh, she did," Wendy said. "But I figured this was my golden opportunity so I did some trading, unauthorized of course."

"Whose name did you exchange for Eunwoo's?" Seulgi had a pretty good idea of who Wendy was about to say. "You didn't…really?"

Wendy nodded bashfully, "Yeah, I originally drew Yeri's name, so I may have traded her to Joy in exchange for Eunwoo," she rushed out the last part, avoiding her friend's gaze.

"WENDY!" Several of the other students looked up at the two of them. Seulgi slapped a hand over her mouth and lowered her voice, apologizing for the outburst. "Dude, you are so whipped," she chuckled, slapping Wendy on the back.

Ever since the two of them had been paired on a month-long battle strategy assignment last semester, Wendy developed a huge crush on the attractive boy. Needless to say, it took approximately five minutes for every one of her friends and classmates to realize that she harbored more than "friendly" feelings for the competitive Coordinator. According to Wendy it 'was about damn time I found someone, literally every single one of you guys are gonna get laid this holiday season'.

"Shut up," Wendy hissed under her breath, "I don't want him to know. That's why I need your help."

"Best friends have to stick together, right?" Seulgi wrapped an arm around Wendy's shoulders. "We're gonna have a _lot_ of work to do though, twenty-four hours isn't a lot of time. I'll help you with Eunwoo and you help me with Irene. Deal?"

"Deal"

XXX

**THE NEXT DAY**

Cha Eunwoo, competitive Coordinator extraordinaire, wound his way through the unfamiliar hallways of Dorm One, searching for room 1203. He was surprised when he had gotten a text from Irene of all people, saying she had a problem and she needed someone impartial to help her out. Any problem that had a Champion vexed must be a hell of a problem, he thought.

"Irene, you there?" he asked, knocking on the door to her dorm room.

"Door's open, come on in," came the reply, and Eunwoo shrugged, letting himself in and almost tripping over a stack of boxes that had been carelessly left by the door. Strange. Irene and Seulgi's room was usually pretty clean, judging from the few times he'd seen it previously.

"What's with all the mess?" Eunwoo carefully moved the boxes by the door so they wouldn't trip up anyone else.

"Eunwoo! Good, you got here just in time." Irene was standing in front of a whiteboard on wheels, biting on the end of a red marker. She reached up on her tiptoes to scribble something in the top left corner. Where and how she had gotten a full-sized whiteboard in her room, Eunwoo would never know. "I need your help. I somehow managed to draw Seulgi's name out of the Secret Santa hat and I have absolutely no idea what to get her. You're impartial, which means you're the only person I can go to for this. I can't go to Wendy, she'd tell Seulgi right away. Joy and Yeri are of no help either, the two of them are too busy staring into each other's eyes and pretending like they aren't in love with each other."

Eunwoo laughed, gently grabbing the marker from Irene's hand and setting it down on the desk so she'd stop obsessively writing notes. "Is that it? Why are you worried about that? The two of you have been dating for more than two years now, out of all the people you might have chosen, you got her. You should be happy, not looking like you're about to have a heart attack."

Irene sighed. "I know, but I can't help it. Seulgi doesn't really care a whole lot about material things, she'd want something that has an emotional value to it. And in case you haven't noticed that area isn't something I have a whole lot of experience in."

"How about this? It just so happens that I could use some advice on what present to get for my Secret Santa. I'll help you if you help me?"

The Kalos Champion held out her hand, looking a lot less stressed now than she did before. "It's a deal, Eunwoo. Now, who did you draw?" Eunwoo blushed before handing Irene the piece of paper he had drawn from the hat. Glancing at it, Irene grinned knowingly. "You drew Wendy," she stated.

"Yeah. So now you see my problem," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "I mean, she doesn't even _know_ that I like her…like that. I don't wanna be too obvious or forward or anything, but I wanna make sure that I get her something great." Irene didn't have the heart to tell him that anyone with two eyes could see that Wendy reciprocated the feeling.

"Well, you're in luck because I happen to have a whole list of places we can go to." Eunwoo looked up to where Irene was pointing and indeed there were about twenty store names scribbled on the whiteboard. "One of them is bound to have something Wendy would like. I can even covertly ask Seulgi if she has any ideas for what Wendy wants."

"Thank Arceus, you're a lifesaver, Irene." He pulled out his phone and quickly shot a text to Wendy while next to him, Irene did the same.

**Eunwoo: **I'm headed to lunch with a friend and then we're going shopping for this Secret Santa thing. I'll see you tonight at the exchange?

**Future Bae?: **Yeah, I'll see you tonight. :)

"All right, I've sent out a decoy message. We should be in the clear. Where are we heading first?"

Irene took a picture of her writing with her phone before grabbing a spray bottle and washcloth, erasing all evidence of her brainstorming session. "Teuk is picking me up so we can go shopping and I asked him if you could tag along."

Eunwoo was floored. "Wait, Leeteuk? As in Kalos Champion Leeteuk? I'm hanging out with both of you?" He couldn't believe his luck, he'd be hanging out with celebrities all day. Irene just looked at him, not understanding his reaction. Eunwoo just stood by the door in a daze. With both Kalos Champions at his side there was no way Wendy would get anything less than the best for Christmas. 

"Yeah. You're okay with that, right? I find that if both me and him go places, people are more likely to give us good deals on things. Perks of being a Champion and all." Her phone buzzed. "Oh, he's here. You ready to head out?"

He nodded, "Lead on then. How much time do we have before the party?" He checked his tablet and sighed. "Less than four hours. Can we really do this in time?"

XXX

**LATER THAT EVENING**

Moonbyul cleared her throat loudly, tapping on her microphone to make sure it was working properly. The entire student body was gathered in the main auditorium and as the last few stragglers walked in with their presents, she gestured for Solar to close the doors. Her co-captain Namjoon stood guard by the huge pile of wrapped presents and cards with a clipboard, dutifully marking off the students and adding their offerings to the pile.

"Thank you all for participating in this year's holiday activity. I know it was a challenge to find a present for your person in less than twenty-four hours but judging by the sheer size of this stack of presents everyone came through! Namjoon, what are the numbers?"

"All three hundred and sixty students are accounted for, great job everyone!" A loud cheer came from the students assembled in the audience.

Seulgi and Wendy were glad they managed to make it to the auditorium on time, searching for their presents ended up taking longer than they thought. Seulgi leaned over to whisper in Wendy's ear as they searched around for a place to sit. The shorter girl was watching Moonbyul call out names one by one. A nervous expression was on her best friend's face. "Still worried?" she asked, making the other girl jump in surprise. "Don't worry, he's going to love it."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Besides, if he doesn't know the meaning behind this, he's even dumber than I thought." She laughed as Wendy half-heartedly smacked her arm.

Just past them on the bleachers, Irene and Eunwoo were chatting with Joy and Yeri about their plans for Christmas dinner. All of them had been invited back to the Moon mansion, and now that Moonbyul officially owned the manor she was inviting all of her friends to come by and spend the holidays. Because of course their family's unofficial motto was 'the more the merrier'.

Irene caught sight of her girlfriend whispering conspiratorially with her best friend and called them over. The two barely had time to sit down before Moonbyul read, "Cha Eunwoo."

The Coordinator stood up and walked to the center of the court, watched closely by his friends. He received his present from Namjoon and bowed politely before returning to his seat. He shot a smile to Irene and carefully removed the small card attached to the gift.

_Merry Christmas.- Secret Santa. _A small, crudely drawn picture of a Sawsbuck had been placed under the short message. Seulgi could almost see the cogs turning in his head and she smiled. Oh man, was Eunwoo going to love this.

He opened the present and gasped in surprise. Sitting in the box was a warm-looking blue knitted scarf that had his initials on it. He pulled out the scarf and immediately wrapped it around his neck, almost missing the second part of his present as it fell out. He picked up the envelope before it hit the ground and opened it. Inside was a voucher for a year's worth of tickets to see performances by the best orchestra in the Kalos region. How did his secret santa know not only his favorite color but one of his favorite pastimes? "Are you kidding me?" Eunwoo almost squealed in delight.

"You're welcome," Wendy said smugly. She was immediately swept up in a tight hug, much to her happiness.

"How…?" was the only question Eunwoo was capable of asking. The orchestra voucher itself was worth a lot of money, how on Earth did Wendy manage to get her hands on one? "Where…?"

Wendy smiled sagely. "Seulgi and I were eating lunch and by accident we managed to come across a couple of the players in the orchestra. They took a liking to Seulgi's Bewear and my Sawsbuck and wanted to battle."

"Yeah," Seulgi chimed in, "And if you couldn't tell, we won. Wendy knew you liked going to their performances so they managed to hook us up with this voucher."

Eunwoo shot Wendy a glance that said _we'll talk more later_ as they returned to watching the gift-giving together.

Joy was called up to receive her present, which she unwrapped to reveal a stuffed dog wearing a Santa hat. Nestled in the dog's paws was a box filled with an absolutely astonishing amount of lip balm in a variety of flavors. From the corner of her eye, Seulgi could see Yeri smiling happily. _Good on you, Yeri._

"Son Seungwan." When Wendy returned to her seat clutching a small card she looked a little disappointed. There was a note glued to the front, which she read out loud.

_Don't judge a book by its cover. Merry Christmas Wendy. -Eunwoo_

"What happened to Secret Santa staying secret?" Irene pointed out.

"You'll see," Eunwoo responded simply.

Wendy opened the card and two shiny tickets fell out. She picked them up to read the inscription, her expression brightening with each word she read. "No. Freaking. Way."

"What?" Seulgi asked, looking over her best friend's shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse, "I wanna know."

"Eunwoo, are these what I think they are?"

The Coordinator beamed. "Yep. VIP tickets to see your favorite band."

"How in the world…?" This time it was Eunwoo's turn to get tackled and hugged.

"I went out with Irene and Leeteuk and they may or may not have used their connections as Champion to score VIP passes."

Wendy was awestruck. "I love it, Eunwoo. But, why are there two of them?"

Eunwoo looked over briefly at Irene who shot him a reassuring look. He blushed, mumbling, "Because I wanted to go with you."

Wendy and Eunwoo stared in each others eyes, realization finally dawning on their faces. "Did you wanna ditch this place?" Wendy asked nonchalantly.

"Totally. We've already gotten our presents, there's no need for us to stick around. We'll see you guys tomorrow at Moonbyul's place?" Eunwoo and Wendy left together hand-in-hand.

Irene and Seulgi watched them leave as the newfound couple discreetly made their exit, talking all the while about music and whether or not blue was the superior color.

"That turned out nicely," Irene commented. "Do you think tonight finally drilled some understanding into the two of them?"

"It better have," Seulgi growled. "God, they're almost as bad as we were when we first went out."

Irene laughed jovially, pressing a soft kiss to their entwined hands. Moonbyul called out both of their names at the same time and they got up to receive their presents.

There were no notes or cards attached to either one of their gifts, just their names written simply on the wrapping paper in marker.

"Together?" Seulgi asked.

"Together."

As one, they opened their presents.

"Seulgi, is this what I think this is?" Irene held a familiar looking Heart Scale gently in her hand. It glowed softly with a blue light. "You told me you lost this like a year ago after we started officially going out."

"My Ninetales found it buried under a pile of my knick-knacks when we moved dorm rooms, I held off on telling you. Turn it over."

Irene did as she was told and flipped over the scale, her breath catching in her throat. A set of dates had been carefully etched on the surface of the scale, along with the initials BJH and KS. "You got our anniversary engraved on it."

"Do you like it? I know it's not the most flashy present but I—" Seulgi was cut off as Irene pulled her in for a kiss. She melted into the Champion's strong embrace.

The students around them didn't even bat an eyelash anymore whenever the two of them showed affection, they'd long since been accustomed to Irene kissing her roommate.

"It's perfect." Irene assured her. They broke apart and Irene nudged at Seulgi's present with her foot. "Now it's your turn."

Seulgi reluctantly pulled away from her girlfriend and opened her present. It was a framed picture of herself, Irene, Wendy, Joy, Yeri, Moonbyul, Solar, Jihyo and Daniel that had been taken several years ago, the first time they had all visited Moonbyul's family manor. Next to the picture was a depiction of the night sky that evening, when Seulgi and Irene had finally confessed to each other.

_Seulgi- _

_Our destinies were always written in the stars. This is just the proof. I love you Seul-bear._

_-Joohyun _

"Joohyun…" Seulgi felt tears prickling at the edge of her eyes. She couldn't have dreamed for a better present from her girlfriend. That week had proven to be one of the best in recent memory, and now she had something to forever remember it by. If only the Seulgi then could see where they are now. "Thank you so much."

Irene's eyes were similarly tearing up. She wiped them away with her hand and sniffled. "Well, now that we've suitably made each other cry, let's go back to our room for the rest of your present."

Seulgi raised an eyebrow as they gathered up their things and snuck out the side entrance. "There's more?"

"I wondered for the longest time what to get you for Secret Santa, and with a little help from Eunwoo I figured it out."

"Babe, you're the only present I need this year," Seulgi said, leaning in for another kiss.

"I know," Irene smirked. "And you'll get plenty of me after dinner at Moonbyul's place tomorrow. You and I will just happen to be in the Orange Islands."

"No. Way." Seulgi froze mid-step. "Joohyun, that's too much." She knew Irene loved to spoil her, but to give her a trip to the Orange Islands as a Christmas present was just…wow.

"Nothing's too much when it comes to you, Seulgi." Irene wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist and they walked quickly back to their dorm to avoid getting too cold.

Seulgi pouted, "But now I feel bad that I didn't get you anything extravagant."

"Don't be. You gave me the best present I could have possibly imagined, and that's to spend the holidays with you. I don't need anything expensive or rare because as long as I have you, you're everything I could have ever wished for."

"Aw, baby."

They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, just basking in each other's presence. Upon reaching their shared room, Seulgi hung up her new picture above her desk so she could always look at it. Irene placed the Heart Scale right next to her Charizard's worn out Champion medal, a place of honor where she put only the most important of things.

They turned to look at each other. "The night's still early, Joohyun. And I've got something else to give you too," Seulgi purred, arching one perfect eyebrow and slowly removing her shirt.

"Oh, do you?" Irene stuttered. No matter how many times she saw Seulgi like this, no matter how many times they slept together, she always felt the same gratitude and love welling up inside of her, threatening to burst out. Irene copied Seulgi and started taking off her own clothing. "By all means, Seulgi. Show me."

The couple retreated to Irene's bed on the lower level and they melted into each other's embrace.

"Merry Christmas, Joohyun."

"Merry Christmas, Seulgi."

**Is this canon? Is this not? Who knows, but I wanted to share a fluffy little bonus with everyone to celebrate the holidays and the release of our girls' newest comeback. Seriously, Psycho is great. Listen to it all the time. And from me to you, I hope you have a great holiday season. Drache out.**


	17. Chapter 17

Seulgi collapsed on a lounge chair and closed her eyes, soaked from head to toe but in a very good mood. The water fight had gone on until the sun started going down with Yeri and Joy declared the winners. There was simply no _Pokémon that could match the speed Yeri's Arcanine had, and any who came up against the unstoppable duo fell to a barrage of water balloons. _

_Of course Seulgi felt like she had come out on top anyway. Having Irene pressed up against her back as they rode Mr. Fuzzles into battle was a victory in its own. What girl wouldn't like her crush to hold onto her? _

_Speaking of Irene, her roommate was a few feet away, chatting idly with Wendy and Joy. It made Seulgi happy to see the raven-haired Trainer interacting with other people. Irene was slowly letting her walls down around their friends and it was a beautiful sight to see. _

_"__I see everyone had fun," Moonbyul's mother approached the group. Her Loudred held a stack of towels in its hands as they went around offering towels to everyone. Seulgi wrapped an orange towel around her waist, thanking the older woman for her kindness. _

_"__Next time we're banning Yeri from using Arcanine, that's basically cheating," Moonbyul complained cheekily, toweling off her wet hair. _

_"__You started it," Solar pointed out, shivering. Moonbyul grabbed another towel and draped it over her girlfriend's shoulders. _

_"__Oh!" Everyone turned to look at Mrs. Moon. "While I have everyone here, let's all gather around for a group picture. I want everyone to remember this." _

_The nine young Trainers huddled together as the Moon matriarch brought out a camera. Seulgi ended up wedged between Joy and Jihyo with Irene in front of her. Joy gave Seulgi a knowing wink as they all posed for the camera. "Everybody say Pikachu!"_

_"__PIKACHU!" The camera flashed. _

_"__Perfect," Mrs. Moon said. "I'll send the pictures to Byul so all of you can have a copy. Now dry yourselves off quickly, dinner's in an hour." _

_"__Yes Mrs. Moon!" Came the chorus of replies._

_"__Such polite young Trainers," she smiled. "Oh, that reminds me." She pulled out a list from her apron. "I need someone to grab a few things from the market down the road for me. We're out of soda and chips."_

_"__I'd be happy to go," Irene piped up. "I could use a nice walk anyway."_

_"__Thank you dearie." Joy casually cleared her throat and pushed Seulgi towards Mrs. Moon. _

_"__I'll go too," Seulgi volunteered, shooting daggers at Joy, who pretended like she didn't know anything. Irene looked surprised but she didn't complain._

_"__How sweet. Well then the two of you better be off. Joohyun you remember where the market is right?"_

_The Champion nodded, going over the list and mentally figuring out how much to get so everyone was happy. "We'll be back soon, Mrs. Moon." _

_As Seulgi left she mouthed __I'm going to kill you __in Joy's direction. Of course since Joy knew about her crush on Irene she'd make things difficult. The other girl yawned, pausing to see if Mrs. Moon had left before casually flipping Seulgi off and mouthing back __You'll thank me later._

_Seulgi was about to give the younger girl a piece of her mind when a small hand rested on her arm. Irene asked, "You ready?" _

_"__Yeah. Lead the way." _

_XXX_

_The market was about a fifteen-minute walk from the mansion, down at the bottom of the cliff by the road that led back into town. It didn't stock a huge variety of things but Irene and Seulgi found what they needed without too much trouble. Everything was loaded into three large paper bags and the girls made their way back home. _

_Irene suggested they take the scenic route back to the mansion, which would take them off the main road and into the woods. "I'm not trying to be creepy, but it really is a beautiful area. I used to come this way with Dante whenever we'd stay with Moonbyul." _

_Seulgi was surprised that Irene could casually bring up her deceased partner's name up like that. She didn't press the other girl though and swallowed the questions that were on the tip of her tongue. So she changed the subject. "How long have you and Moonbyul known each other?" _

_"__Since I was ten. She was a year younger than me, and our parents would frequently meet together for work matters. She won her region's Championship two years before me, when she was only fourteen. The whole world went wild, she's only the second person under sixteen to win a Championship battle." They broke off from the main road and took a left down a path that led into the woods surrounding the neighborhood. _

_"__Wow, that's impressive." _

_"__Mhm. I admit, recently her and I have drifted apart a little bit. What with…recent events and everything. I'm glad Leeteuk brought me over here though, I didn't know how much I needed a break."_

_"__I'm glad you came, this week has really helped me to make new friends. I'm glad Jackson blew up Dorm Three."_

_Irene chuckled. "Me too. That boy is many things, but smart isn't one of them, at least when it comes to making rash decisions." _

_Seulgi stopped. "Irene, we never got to really talk about…you know. What happened during the party." _

_"__You mean the kiss?" Irene sounded so nonchalant about the whole thing. _

_Seulgi blushed. "I…yeah. Have I mentioned how sorry I am about that?"_

_"__And I owned up to it, it was my fault for kissing you without asking first." _

_Seulgi swallowed. Well, this seems like the best time to mention…"I liked it." _

_Irene stopped in her tracks, before turning to face Seulgi. "You did?"_

_Seulgi could feel the tips of her ears getting hot with embarrassment but she'd already gotten this far, she might as well continue. "I like you, Irene." _

_Irene for her part seemed a little surprised but she couldn't hide the pleased grin on her face. "I like you too, Seulgi. Although I certainly haven't acted that way. I—"_

_"__No, Irene. I __like__you." _

_The forest was dead silent. All Irene could say was, "Oh." _

_"__Please say something," Seulgi begged. "It's okay if you don't return my feelings, I just thought—" _

_Irene stopped her. "No, it's not that. It's…I think I like you too, Seulgi. Like that. I'm just…not that good at feelings like that."_

_Seulgi tilted her head, "Oh. Well good, neither am I." _

_Irene looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm a Champion with less-than average social skills and most of the media calls me an Ice Queen because I always look like I'm about to hit someone. I find it hard to believe a girl like you is bad with feelings." _

_"__I'm a girl from Alola who named her Stufful Mr. Fuzzles. The only reason I got into the Kalos Academy was because I have a perfect 4.0 GPA which came as a result of not having any actual friends."_

_"__So we're both fucked in that department then," Irene said blithely. _

_Seulgi laughed sardonically. "We're a mess, aren't we?" _

_"__I don't know, I've seen worse. You're a very pretty mess." _

_"__Irene!"_

_The older girl walked closer to Seulgi, stepping in her personal space. "I don't know how things will go from here on out. We've both confessed to each other. What's the next step?"_

_"__I wouldn't say no to another kiss." Seulgi knew she was being bold and she expected Irene to balk and retreat._

_But she didn't._

_Irene leaned in and placed a hesitant kiss on Seulgi's lips. "Is this okay?"_

_Seulgi looked dazed and all she could mutter was, "Oh yeah. This is definitely okay." _

_"__Well then…" Irene pulled the taller girl in closer and kissed her again, feeling her lips against Seulgi's and enjoying the surprised whine that escaped the other girl's lips. _

_They broke apart only when they needed air. Seulgi was staring at Irene and debating what to say next when she heard the distinct sound of a camera shutter. _

_She whirled around, hand instinctively going to her belt in case she needed to call on her Pokémon. Irene placed a hand on her cheek, "What?" _

_"__I thought I heard a camera." _

_Irene was shocked, and she turned away from Seulgi to look around her. She couldn't see anything but the forest. "I don't see anything."_

_"__Maybe it was just me being paranoid," Seulgi tucked a lock of Irene's hair behind her ear and the Champion almost melted at the sweet gesture. Seulgi heard the sound again, and this time Irene heard it too. "Tell me you heard it this time." _

_Irene simply nodded and slowly reached for her belt, calling out her Ninetales. "Yeah." Her faithful partner looked up at her, tilting her head quizzically. "Aeolus, I think someone's watching us. Find them." _

_Her partner barked once and dashed off into the trees._

_"__This should be impossible, I thought Leeteuk was the only other person who knew where you were going this week?" Seulgi asked. _

_"__He was." Irene strained her ears, waiting to hear a signal from her partner. "I don't know how anyone managed to find me." _

_Her partner was quick, and within a minute they heard her Ninetales' telltale howl. Irene took off towards the sound, Seulgi right behind her._

_Her partner had cornered someone against a tree and was snarling at them. A man wearing casual clothes had been pinned against the tree, cradling a large camera in his arms. Irene was furious. Couldn't these people leave her alone for one second?_

_"__Who are you?" she yelled._

_"__I-I'm from the Kalos News Network. Please, can you call your Pokémon off?" He side-eyed the powerful fox Pokémon. _

_Irene huffed, calling Aeolus to her side. "What are you doing here, this is a private neighborhood!" _

_She didn't have to guess though, judging by the camera hanging around his neck. Normally she tolerated the press, it was a part of the job description of Champion. But to have these vultures taking pictures of her while she was on vacation? Utterly despicable._

_Seulgi nudged her and gestured to the camera. "Irene, he has pictures of us kissing." _

_The Champion's face paled. No. The world can't find out like this. "Give me that camera."_

_"__No!" The reporter finally seemed to gain some confidence now that he wasn't being openly threatened anymore. "These pictures will circulate the entire region and I'll be famous." _

_"__Those are illegally taken," Seulgi crossed her arms. "No publication worth their salt will accept them."_

_He scoffed, clutching his camera as though it was a child. "You're outside the Academy now, these pictures are completely legal." _

_Outside the Academy now…wait. That didn't make sense. Unless… _

_"__You've seen the other pictures," Seulgi accused. "That's impossible, no one outside the Academy has access to any of the networks." _

_"__Unless someone showed him," Irene said. "That's it, isn't it? You couldn't use the other pictures of me kissing Seulgi because they were on a private network, so you followed me to get your own."_

_The reporter laughed. "Someone wants me to expose you and your roommate, I'm set for life if I manage to release these." He called out two Pokémon, a Lucario and Vikavolt. _

_"__We can't let that happen," Irene replied. She called out Garm, her Aegislash. Beside her, Seulgi called out her Tyranitar. _

_A battle it was then. The reporter wouldn't back down and neither would Irene and Seulgi. If those pictures of them kissing got released the media would be in a huge uproar. Irene shuddered to think of what her father would do if word got out that Bae Joohyun was gay. _

_"__Vikavolt, use Thunderbolt!" The reporter made the first move as his beetle Pokémon charged up electricity in its massive horns and fired the move at Seulgi's Tyranitar._

_The Tyranitar roared, but easily withstood the attack. In fact it looked even angrier. Seulgi examined the battlefield in front of her. Vikavolt was a dual type Electric and Bug Pokémon, and her Tyranitar was technically weak to it. If the reporter hit her partner with a bug-type attack, things could go sideways._

_It was a double-edged sword though because Vikavolt was also weak to rock-type moves. It would all come down to who got the first real hit in. _

_Seulgi wasn't worried about Aegislash and Lucario. Irene's Pokémon should easily be able to hold off and withstand the other Pokémon. In the back of her mind Seulgi was excited. __Wow, I finally get to see Irene battle. __Though she wished it was under completely different circumstances. _

_"__Tyranitar, Stone Edge!" Seulgi's Tyranitar stomped its foot, causing a piece of earth to break away from the ground. Tyranitar then took the rock projectile and hurled it at the Vikavolt, scoring a direct hit. The beetle Pokémon faltered, one of its wings damaged by the attack. One more decent hit would knock it out of the battle. _

_Irene had her hands full with the reporter's Lucario. It was faster than her Aegislash and although Garm had strong defenses, if things kept going she would find herself at a disadvantage. She needed Seulgi's Tyranitar to slow it down. _

_"__Seulgi, this Lucario is outspeeding Garm, can you reduce its speed somehow?" _

_The taller girl nodded. She had the perfect move. "Tyranitar, switch targets. Hit that Lucario with a Rock Tomb!" _

_Her Pokémon nodded, eyes zeroing in on the Lucario. It stomped its foot again, only this time instead of hurling one large rock the Tyranitar shot out a barrage of smaller boulders. The rocks hit Lucario, tripping it up and causing it to lose the momentum it had gathered. _

_"__Vikavolt, take that Tyranitar down with an X-Scissor!" Seulgi gulped as the opposing Vikavolt charged up its attack. She could only hope her Pokémon managed to hold through the assault. _

_"__Aegislash, King's Shield!" The sword Pokémon warbled and it changed into its defensive form, hiding behind the shield it carried and stepping in between the charging Vikavolt._

_The reporter's Vikavolt tried to halt its strike but the momentum was too great and it smashed right into Aegislash. The physical contact with Aegislash caused the beetle Pokémon to jerk backwards as though it had been punched. _

_The reporter swore. He had forgotten that Irene's Aegislash ran that move, which was something he should have seen coming a mile away. Not only were Aegislash's defenses tougher to penetrate when it was in Shield Form, but using King's Shield would literally sap the strength out of any Pokémon that dared to attack it with physical moves. Irene and the other girl were somehow working together with a synchronicity usually only seen in dedicated doubles teams. The way the Aegislash immediately placed itself in harm's way to block a powerful move meant for its partner was incredible. The whole display unnerved him._

_"__Tyranitar, are you okay?" Seulgi looked worriedly at her partner but he gave a triumphant roar to assure her everything was alright._

_"__Seulgi I can take this from here," Irene's voice was icy cold. This reporter came because of her. This was her problem and she would clean it up herself. _

_"__Are you sure?"_

_"__I'm the Kalos Champion," Irene said, facing the reporter. "No two-bit reporter can even dream of beating me." _

_Seulgi called for her Tyranitar to retreat and watched the rest of the battle unfold before her eyes. If she was battling she would first take out the Vikavolt since it had already been severely wounded by the earlier fights. _

_Apparently Irene thought the same thing. "Garm, take out that Vikavolt. Use Shadow Sneak." _

_Her Aegislash swapped back to its Attack Form, its shield becoming enveloped in a dark power. Tendrils of ghostly energy that looked disturbingly like tentacles shot out from the center of the shield and snaked towards the unfortunate Vikavolt. _

_The move was blindingly fast and the poor Pokémon had no time to react to the sudden attack. The tendrils wrapped around the Pokémon as it hovered several feet in the air. Then they solidified, grabbing the Vikavolt and grounding it mercilessly. The Pokémon hit the ground with a satisfying crash, faint and out for the count. _

_Seulgi was impressed. Sure the other Pokémon had already taken a few major hits, but for that one single move to completely knock it out? Irene's Aegislash was on another level. _

_It was one on one now, and the reporter's face had lost its smug expression. Of course he knew that challenging a Champion would likely end in his defeat, but the only other option was to give up his camera and he was __not__about to lose the scoop of the decade._

_His Lucario was still quite healthy, the only damage it had taken was from the other girl's Tyranitar. Though the Tyranitar __had__managed to slow it down with that Rock Tomb. The reporter mentally went over what he knew about Aegislash and its potential weaknesses. _

_He wasn't fast enough however. "Garm, Sacred Sword."_

_His Lucario looked back at him with fear in its eyes, begging him to think of something, __anything__. But he came up blank. Lucario was weak against Fighting-type moves and Sacred Sword was one of the strongest moves an Aegislash could learn. Hell, everyone had seen it during the Championship battle between Irene and Leeteuk. Irene had felled Leeteuk's full-health Aurorus with a single Sacred Sword. _

_He had lost. Garm rushed the reporter's Lucario and with a single slash, the Lucario lay motionless in the dirt._

_The unfortunate reporter, now faced with a fully-grown Tyranitar and the region's most powerful Aegislash, tried to back up to create a safe distance between himself and a very angry Irene. All he had to do was protect his camera. He didn't get very far though, as he backed straight into a wall of soft fur and rigid muscle. Stifling a squeak, he slowly looked up to see a giant Bewear staring down at him with glowing crimson eyes. The Bewear growled and the reporter could feel the vibrations emanating from the bear Pokémon's chest. _

_"__I'd tell you not to move but it seems you at least got that part right," Seulgi said. "Drop the camera." _

_Despite every professional instinct the reporter had that told him not to give up the most important photos he'd ever take, fear won out and the expensive camera dropped to the ground. Not even his training had prepared him for facing a very angry Bewear._

_The Bewear behind him shifted, and the bear Pokémon focused on the camera. Returning to all fours, Bewear gently picked up the camera in its jaws and returned to Seulgi's side. Seulgi quickly booted up the camera and began sifting through the damning pictures, a frown on her face._

_How could someone have such little respect for another human being and use them to further their own career? It was disgusting. Seulgi turned to Irene. "Do you want me to delete all of them?" _

_"__Please," Irene responded, not taking her gaze from the reporter who almost ruined her career. If he made so much as one wrong move she'd set her Aegislash on him._

_Seulgi played with the camera and systematically deleted every single photo that was on the device before taking the SD card out and pocketing it. There was no way she was letting him go without ensuring __all__copies of their photos had been taken care of. Satisfied with her results she handed the camera back to Bewear. _

_Was he really getting his camera back?__The reporter thought. The girl with Irene had taken out the SD card but it was possible that she had missed a few photos. If he could only get his hands back on his precious camera maybe the day wasn't a total loss. _

_The Bewear slowly approached him, camera balanced precariously in its mouth. He reached out a shaky hand to try and take it but the Pokémon was just out of his reach. "Please. Please give me back my camera." _

_Seulgi's eyes narrowed at his desperate tone. She didn't like the way he phrased the request. "You want this back?" _

_He nodded, attempting again to get ahold of his camera. This man was tricky, Seulgi thought. He'd managed to follow Irene to the Moon mansion and even taken illegal photos of the two of them. He didn't care about the potential damage he'd do to the two girls, all he cared about was getting the next big scoop. Seulgi wouldn't allow him to hurt Irene._

_"__Bewear." Seulgi's voice became uncharacteristically cold. Her Pokémon rumbled. "Give the man his camera back." _

_Bewear took two steps forward, until he was within range of the reporter. But as the man reached out to take it, the bear Pokémon stepped back and crushed the camera between its powerful jaws, absolutely obliterating the expensive piece of equipment. Bits of plastic and metal fell to the ground and Seulgi's Bewear spit out the remains of the camera before returning to his Trainer's side. _

_The reporter let out a strangled cry and rushed forward, kneeling on the ground and sifting through the pile of junk. Nothing was salvageable. _

_"__I'm sorry," Seulgi smirked. "I forgot to tell him to return it to you in one piece." _

_Seulgi didn't think of herself as a mean person, not in the slightest. Still, she had to admit, this felt powerful, watching him on his knees, utterly defeated. _

_Irene, who had been silent during the whole exchange, finally spoke up. "Leave."_

_The reporter looked up the Champion and couldn't help the shudder that ran through his body. "But I—"_

_"__Now." Irene's Ninetales snarled menacingly. "If I ever see you near me again I'll report you to the police for harassment." _

_Knowing that he was truly defeated, the man gathered up the broken bits of his camera and shoved them into his camera bag. His superiors were going to kill him. Hell, forget his superiors, his client was going to kill him. He had paid big time for photos of Irene and now that he couldn't deliver, he could kiss that huge bonus goodbye. _

_The reporter shot one last pleading look at Irene and Seulgi but a warning snarl from Bewear made him skitter backwards and he ran away, tripping over his own feet. _

_Now that they were alone again, Irene finally allowed herself to breathe. She felt tears prickling on the edge of her vision as the adrenaline from the battle faded away. A warm presence settled next to her and Irene wrapped her arms around Seulgi and started sobbing. _

_"__Hey, hey shh it's okay," Seulgi soothed her, gently rubbing the Champion's back. "He's gone. We won, we got the photos." _

_They stood like this for a few minutes until Irene's sobs turned into sniffles. When they finally broke apart from each other, Irene looked at Seulgi. "I don't know what I would have done without you Seulgi. Thank you." Mr. Fuzzles growled softly, shoving his head between the two of them as if to say __You're welcome.__Irene laughed softly, scratching the giant bear Pokémon behind the ears. "And thank you too Bewear." _

_Seulgi reached into her pocket and took out the SD card she had taken, handing it over to Irene. "I deleted what I could off the camera, but if there are any other copies they should all be here." _

_Irene gratefully took the little card. To think, this one harmless looking card contained the proof she didn't want the world to see. She didn't want the world to know that Kalos Champion Bae Joohyun liked girls. At least not yet. She would reveal things on her own terms. _

_The two of them finally seemed to notice that the sun was setting even further. "We should get back to the mansion," Irene said. She turned to look at the bags of groceries they had left. "They're probably worried about us." _

_Seulgi nodded and recalled her Bewear, picking up the groceries and falling into step just behind Irene as they began walking back. _

_"__I don't know why I'm so scared," Irene said after a minute, putting the card in her own pocket and recalling her Pokémon. "There's nothing shameful about you and I kissing. And yet…I can't help it. What would the public think? What would my father think? Would my career be ruined if this came out?" _

_Seulgi held up a hand to silence Irene. "It's okay if you're scared. And it's okay if you don't want the world to know this about you. I forget sometimes you're a Champion and that by the virtue of that title you have people watching your every move." _

_"__I'm safe at the Academy," Irene responded. "Everyone's bound by a confidentiality clause. It's…I can be myself there because I don't have to worry about appearances. I can just be normal. I don't have to live with my father breathing down my neck. I forget that outside those walls the world is a lot less nice." _

_"__So what do you want to do?" Seulgi asked, hoping deep down that her fledgling relationship with Irene wouldn't get cut off before it could really begin. But of course if that's what Irene wanted she'd do it in a heartbeat. "We don't have to do…anything. If you need me to, I can move out." _

_Irene rounded on her. "Arceus no, I don't want that!" Seulgi was surprised at the shorter girl's almost visceral reaction. The Champion paused to gather herself and she cleared her throat. "I mean no. I don't want that." _

_"__I really like you Irene, that much is obvious. But if us being…a thing worries you then tell me now." _

_"__I'm not going to lie. I'm terrified." Irene's voice had gone soft. "But I like you. I like the way you look at me, as though I'm the only thing you see. I like your stupid smile, I like your determination." She looked into Seulgi's eyes. "I like you kissing me." _

_Seulgi broke out into a smile. "So does that mean…?" _

_"__Seulgi, after we get back to the Academy would you want to go out on a date with me?" Irene rolled her eyes a bit at the cheesiness of the situation but upon seeing the effect it had on Seulgi she couldn't help the smile on her face._

_"__Hmm…I'll have to think about it," Seulgi replied. _

_Irene shoved her. "Kang Seulgi, you are so rude." _

_"__Yes. Yes, I'd love to go on a date with you Irene." The Champion averted her gaze shyly at the response and moved closer to Seulgi._

_The two of them walked together back to the mansion grounds, where Moonbyul buzzed them in. They wound their way up the road to the house and they were soon assaulted by all of their friends. Moonbyul in particular looked pissed and the Hoenn Champion proceeded to curse them out for making her so worried. _

_"__Seulgi! Irene!" Wendy called out, rushing over to the two of them, Joy, Yeri and the rest of their friends not far behind. Jihyo took the grocery bags from them so Wendy could give them both a hug. "We were so worried, who takes two hours to get soda and snacks from the market?" _

_Seulgi and Irene shared a look. "It's a long story…" _


	18. Chapter 18

"Byul, I am freaking out," Irene sat on the edge of Moonbyul's bed, obsessively checking out every notification on her tablet.

"Dude, chill. It's just a date." Moonbyul gently pried the tablet out of her best friend's fingers and set it on the bedside table. She had no idea why Irene was so worried, Seulgi was a great girl. "You like her, she likes you, what's the problem?"

"The problem is I have no idea where to take her!" Irene tried to reach for her tablet and Moonbyul shook her head, blocking the older girl's attempt and placing the offending item on top of her desk, out of Irene's reach. "Give it back, Moonbyul. I want this to be perfect."

"You're worrying too much, Joohyun. I'm sure she'll love wherever you guys end up going. A date isn't just about where you go or what you do. It's about spending time with the person." Moonbyul grabbed a wooden box out of her bedside table and opened it. She handed Irene a worn-out scrap of yellow paper. "I took Yongsun to that cool mini-golf place on the east side of town and then we came back here for pizza. I kept the scorecard as a memento of our first date."

Irene let out a soft 'aw', holding the paper carefully in her hands. She remembered that night and remembered the stupid grin on Moonbyul's face when she came back to their shared dorm room. "Yongsun beat you so badly. You're horrible at mini-golf."

Moonbyul huffed, taking back the old scorecard and putting it back where it belonged. "How was I supposed to know the girl was a prodigy? Seriously, how can a girl that pretty be good at everything she tries? It's unnatural."

Irene giggled. "I guess you're right, Byul. But I'm still lost as to what to do for our date on Friday."

"You're a Kalos Champion, Joohyun. You have connections. Use them and knock the socks off Seulgi."

"Huh. It never occurred to me that I could use that." Moonbyul's jaw dropped at the statement, but by the looks of things Irene was serious. Had she never considered using her status as a Champion to get things done?

"Oh my Arceus, you're so innocent." Moonbyul's tablet buzzed. She read the incoming message and reached up to hand Irene's tablet back to her. "Look, Friday is three days away, I'm sure you'll come up with something by then. Now shoo, Yong just texted me."

"Kicking me out so you can have sex with your girlfriend?" Irene feigned a hurt expression. "You wound me, Moon Byulyi. I thought we were friends."

"Arceus I wish she was coming over for that. No, she wants us to start planning for the next major competition. Word has it we get to pick our teams and apparently she's already got "dossiers" on the people she's thinking about teaming up with."

Irene's brows furrowed as she walked to the door. "But the competition isn't for another three weeks."

Moonbyul sighed. "Try telling her that. But tell you what, I'll sniff around, ask Seulgi what kind of things she likes doing and I'll let you know what I find out."

"You're a lifesaver, Moonbyul."

"Yeah, yeah." Moonbyul waved her out. "I'll text you."

As Irene left, Moonbyul shut her door and collapsed on her bed. Solar was always a meticulous planner, and that's part of what made her such an award-winning Coordinator. And of course Moonbyul loved her, but man was it a lot of work sometimes.

The Hoenn Champion only got to relax for about two minutes before the door opened and her girlfriend breezed on in. Moonbyul didn't move from her position on the bed, nor did she even bother to tell Solar to lock the door behind her. "Hey babe, nice to see you too."

Solar dumped several heavy file folders on her stomach, which caused her to wheeze at the impact. Moonbyul opened one of them and her eyes widened at the sheer amount of information Solar had managed to get.

"Okay, so I've been looking around and I think I have a good idea of who to recruit for the competition. There's this one girl from Dorm Two named Jung Wheein, she'd be a great addition to our team. I've also been looking at some students from Dorm One and a freshman named Ahn Hyejin caught my eye so let me…Byul? Byul are you even listening to me?"

Moonbyul had fallen asleep, file folders covering her whole upper body. She loved Solar, but sometimes her personality was a little much.

XXX

"You've heard about the next competition right?" was Wendy's form of a greeting as she sat down across from Seulgi at the dining hall.

Seulgi shook her head, mouth full of pancakes. She swallowed her bite of breakfast and took a drink of orange juice. "Irene mentioned the next one was in a few weeks but I haven't heard any details about it. Why?"

"One of my sources says we'll be able to pick our teams for this one! You just transferred here this semester, you wouldn't get it. Usually we're divided into teams by dorm number or floor, according to the school's records there have only been a handful of times the students have been allowed to freely make teams."

Seulgi nodded politely and waited for Wendy to finish rambling about how unprecedented this dorm competition would be. "So have you thought about who you want on your team?"

Wendy looked downright offended. "You, duh. And Irene, if she hasn't already been offered a spot. How cool would it be to get to battle with the Kalos Champion?"

Seulgi flashed back to that day at the Moon manor when she and Irene had taken on the rogue reporter. Things thankfully had quieted down since then, but Seulgi remembered watching Irene easily taking on the reporter's _Pokémon with her Aegislash. They would be at a major advantage if the rumors were true. _

_"__I'll ask her. Moonbyul mentioned something about maybe asking her, but I think Solar has other plans for them. Arceus, can you imagine how overpowered a team would be that had __both__Moonbyul and Irene in it?"_

_"__Yeah that shouldn't be allowed. Joy and Yeri have already agreed, so are you in?" Wendy looked at her expectantly. _

_"__Yeah I'm in." Seulgi wheezed as Wendy tackled her with a hug. "Please don't break my ribs, we have PE today and all Irene would tell me was a name: Sunmi." _

_Wendy's face fell. "Sunmi? Ah, fuck me." _

_"__Who's she?" Seulgi scraped the last bit of food off her plate and stood up to return it. Wendy followed her, backpack slung over her shoulder. _

_"__She's Satan," Wendy shivered. "Seriously. Whenever the Academy brings Sunmi in to teach we're in for a world of trouble. She likes things like contact sports, paintball, military-style obstacle courses…" _

_"__So, pain. Sunmi likes seeing us suffer." Seulgi sighed inwardly. No wonder Irene had that look on her face this morning. Seulgi could only hope that today didn't injure anyone, their date was only two days away now. "Should I be worried?"_

_Wendy waved away her concerns. "No, not really. Sure, Sunmi is sort of crazy and you really don't want to be on the losing side, but she's actually really nice. Just…keep some ibuprofen on hand for after class." _

_"__I'll do that." Seulgi checked the time. "Well, I was looking forward to PE today but after hearing what you just told me I'm not so sure anymore…" _

_"__It'll be fun, Seul. Painful. But fun." _

_XXX_

_"__All right, who called paintball as today's activity?" Moonbyul asked the students as they gathered at the edge of the forest on the western side of campus. She had her tablet out and seemed to be checking a list of names. "Congratulations Chaeyoung and Mina, you guessed it right. I'll send you both a certificate to the BP store." _

_The two girls she had just called out grinned and bumped fists. _

_"__Paintball?" Seulgi glanced sideways at a stack of metal crates that had been piled by a tree. Class was due to start in a few minutes but she hadn't seen a single sign of Sunmi. Or Irene for that matter. Where had her roommate gone?_

_Wendy looked happy though. "At least it's not full-contact flag football like last semester. I see flags over there though, I think Sunmi's planning something a little more complex than just a paintball match." _

_"__Speak of the devil…" Joy muttered to their left and jerked her head in the direction of the school. Sunmi and Irene were walking towards them, carrying a large crate in between them. _

_"__Good morning everyone!" Sunmi and Irene set the crate down with the others and she opened it with one swift movement. "Suit up, grab a gun and armor. You have five minutes to get ready or you'll be running laps after class." _

_There was a mini stampede as all twenty-seven students rushed to the crates to find their gear. Seulgi grabbed a set of armor and a basic paintball gun. There were more complex and cooler-looking guns to pick from but she didn't want to make things more difficult by picking something she didn't know how to use. _

_To be honest though, Seulgi had no experience with paintball. She'd seen videos on the internet so she knew how to do the basics but she wasn't confident in her skills by far. She could only hope she wouldn't drag down her team too much. _

"Moonbyul, Nayeon, Taeyong you're my captains. Pick wisely, you can only have eight others on your team."

"Solar." Of course Moonbyul would start with her girlfriend.

"Jihyo." Another obvious pick. Nayeon and Jihyo were best friends.

"Johnny."

The selections went on and on until the teams had been selected. Seulgi stood with Moonbyul and she looked over at the rest of her team. Most of them were familiar faces, Moonbyul had picked Irene, Wendy, Joy and Yeri but she didn't recognize the last two Trainers that had been picked. She vaguely remembered one of them as Wheein, the girl she had fought against in the triple battle earlier in the semester.

"This is Hwasa," Moonbyul introduced. "I found her practicing out on field six last week with her team and I was impressed."

"And we all know it takes a lot to impress Moonbyul," Solar added. "We're thinking of adding her to our team for the next dorm competition along with Wheein." She clapped a hand over her mouth, and Moonbyul sighed.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag now," the Hoenn Champion said. "What do you two say, wanna be on our team?"

Hwasa looked surprised, like this was the first she'd heard of it. "Really? You want me on your team for that? Aren't the competitions like a huge deal? I'm not a Champion."

Moonbyul huffed, "Don't sell yourself short. I wanted to ask you because I think you two would be a great fit to work with me and Solar."

Hwasa and Wheein gave each other a knowing look and smiled. "Then we're in!"

"Great," Solar grinned. "All that's left is to come up with a team name…"

The first warning whistle blew and Moonbyul stopped mid-sentence to grab their team's flag. "But that'll have to wait until we destroy Taeyong's team. It's about time we paid him back for all the trouble he put Irene and Seulgi through."

Everyone nodded. Jihyo and Nayeon had approached them earlier and asked to make a deal. Unauthorized of course. Last place would get the worst punishment so Moonbyul and Nayeon agreed to stay out of each other's way until Taeyong and his boys had been dealt with. After that, anything was fair game.

XXX

"All right, everyone, you know what the stakes are for today's match, right?" Moonbyul yelled to the eight Trainers standing at attention before her. "First team to capture the other's flag at their base is spared the punishment. And you _know _how creative Sunmi can be with her punishments!"

"But paintball?" Seulgi muttered to Solar, adjusting the shoulder strap on her gun. "What on earth does this have to do with competitive battling?"

"Technically nothing, but both Sunmi and Byul think it's a great way to hone your quick-thinking skills and to see how well you handle under pressure." The blonde coordinator easily loaded her gun and gazed down the sights to make sure everything was in the right place. "Personally I think it's just fun to shoot paint at the people who irritate me."

A scoreboard had been brought out and it was now displaying a list of players along with their gear and gun choice.

The first team was Moonbyul, Solar, Hwasa, Wheein, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri. Seulgi, Yeri, Wheein and Hwasa were their front-line fighters since none of them had real experience with playing paintball before. Out of the four, Seulgi was the only non-freshman.

The rest of the group outside of Solar and Irene were running a variety of weapons and paintball accessories. The two of them were assigned to be their team's snipers.

"Both of them are ridiculously good shots," Wendy muttered as Solar and Irene assembled their rifles. "It's literally insane, I'm surprised Sunmi allowed them to be on the same team again."

The second warning whistle went off. Five minutes until the match began. "I'm sensing there's more to this story," Seulgi said.

"Remind me to tell you after the match. If we win. If we lose I'll tell you while we kill ourselves running laps or whatever."

Moonbyul decided to place their flag in the branches of a tall tree. She then dug a hole and filled it with rocks as a decoy to trick the other teams into thinking they buried the flag. "Yong, message Sunmi the location of our flag. I want Joy and Hwasa on flag defense. Wheein, Yeri and Wendy you go take Taeyong's flag. Seulgi, you're guarding Solar and Irene while they set up. As soon as the last man on Taeyong's team falls you're clear to start going after Nayeon and her girls."

Seulgi was impressed. "You've clearly thought this out, Moonbyul."

Moonbyul's answering grin was ruthless. "Sunmi only comes to teach once every semester. I've waited for this day for a very long time."

The third and final warning whistle blew. Moonbyul handed out walkie-talkies to her teammates. "Alright ladies. Walkies on, guns ready. Let's kick some ass."

XXX

The first fifteen minutes of the match were suspiciously quiet as the three teams avoided any full-on confrontations in favor of scouting out their next move. A couple of Nayeon's girls ran into Taeyong's team early on but both teams made it out without any casualties.

"Seulgi, Solar and Irene know where to go, just make sure you keep them safe, the three of you are going to be our secret weapon." Moonbyul's voice drifted through the walkie-talkie. The sounds of paintballs firing could barely be heard. "Shit, a squad of Taeyong's boys are here. One sec."

Seulgi heard her shout orders to Wendy, Wheein and Yeri along with several choice swear words. There were a few tense moments of silence and then her walkie crackled back to life. "We're safe, Nayeon, Mina and Sana came by at the last second and helped us out."

Their watches buzzed with a notification from Sunmi. _Taeil out. Jaehyun out. Mark out._

Six more to go before the game really began. Seulgi followed closely behind Solar and Irene as the two of them climbed a ridge to get good sights on the battlefield below. Irene gestured for Seulgi to lie down next to her. "There, over in the eastern corner, do you see them?"

She handed off her rifle so Seulgi could look through the sights. Sure enough, Seulgi could see three girls pacing around a large rock. Stuck at the top was a single flag. "Nayeon's not stupid, she put Dahyun Tzuyu and Jeongyeon on guard duty. She knows as soon as we take out Taeyong's team their flag is going to be a target."

"You know sometimes I get the feeling you and Moonbyul take paintball way too seriously," Seulgi deadpanned.

Irene laughed. "It's a nice break from battle strategy."

"Yeah, you've traded battle strategy for paintball strategy."

Solar shushed them and pointed her gun down the hill. "I see Taeyong. He's got Johnny and Doyoung with him."

Both girls adjusted their sights on the boys. "I have a shot on Johnny, Yong. Want me to take it?"

"They'll know where we are then." Solar considered it for a second. "We can always move. Remember that one hill? It's closer to Nayeon's flag. Fine. Take the shot."

Irene nodded and zeroed in on Johnny's back as he turned around to talk to Taeyong. She pulled the trigger.

Johnny fell, a single bright blue paint splatter marring his otherwise pristine armor. Taeyong swore, immediately searching for whoever took out his friend. Irene, Seulgi and Solar ducked out of sight. _Johnny out._

Now that their location had been made the three of them carefully began circling around to the hill behind where Nayeon's flag had been planted.

_Yuta out. Winwin out. Haechan out. _

"Nice, looks like Nayeon's girls have been busy. It's only Taeyong and Doyoung left."

Irene growled, "I really hope we find him before they do, he's the asshole who was being mean to Seulgi when she first transferred."

Seulgi's cheeks flushed upon seeing Irene being so protective. It made her feel nice.

"We can ask," Solar said, taking out her walkie-talkie and fiddling with the channels. "Nayeon, you there?"

Seulgi's jaw dropped. Okay now that was _definitely_ an illegal move, being in contact with the other team. But Seulgi knew Solar wouldn't do it unless she knew she wouldn't get caught.

"What's up Solar?" came Nayeon's response.

"Irene's called dibs on Taeyong."

The other girl huffed. "And here we were about to go hunting. Any particular reason?"

"He's a dick? Taeyong was bullying Seulgi earlier."

"Say no more, he's all yours. We'll go after Doyoung then. Remember as soon as they're down, we never talked."

"Talked to who?" Solar asked, and Nayeon chuckled.

"See you on the other side." The walkie went silent.

Solar turned to Irene, "Taeyong's all yours Irene."

"Good." Irene pulled out her walkie to contact Moonbyul. "Byul, I'm separating from Seulgi and Yong to get Taeyong."

"Fine. We ran into Chaeyoung and Jihyo as they were chasing Doyoung, it shouldn't be long now."

_Doyoung out._

"Well then," Irene said. "I'll make this quick. Have everyone move into their final positions. The game's almost over."

Irene slung her rifle over her shoulder as she began breaking away from the other two girls. "Seulgi keep Yong safe as long as you can. The game will depend on it."

Seulgi saluted. "I'll do my best."

The answering smile made Seulgi's heart skip a beat. Even though they were in the middle of an intense paintball match Irene _still_ gave Seulgi a feeling like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach.

XXX

Irene tracked Taeyong back to where his team had planted their flag. They wouldn't actually lose until someone came and stole their flag, of course having no defenders would make things easy.

The boy in question was nervous and on-edge as he pointed his gun at anything that so much as thought about moving. Irene frowned. Seulgi had told her about the so-called "challenge" he made her do on her first day, and those times in PE earlier in the semester where he had purposely sabotaged her. Sure, he was a dick but Irene still couldn't understand _why_ he targeted Seulgi. But that was a question for another time.

She aimed down her sights and waited for Taeyong to make the next move. Everyone was decked out in body armor so there was no real risk of any injuries aside from the occasional welt from getting hit with a paintball. "Come on Taeyong. Just take a couple more steps forward."

As if he had heard her words, Taeyong cautiously took a few steps forward. Irene pulled the trigger.

"OW, motherfuck—" Taeyong swore as he was hit squarely between the eyes with a blue paintball. He rubbed his head.

"Hey Taeyong," Irene said, revealing herself.

"What the hell Irene, that hurt!"

Irene sidestepped him and yanked his team's flag out of the dirt. "I've been hearing some things from Seulgi."

Taeyong's face paled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't talk right now if I were you Taeyong. Stay away from my roommate and if I hear otherwise I'm going to make sure you regret it," Irene said in a deceptively cheerful tone. Taeyong gulped. "Understand?"

"Crystal clear." Irene patted him on the cheek and disappeared back into the woods to deliver his team's flag to their base, leaving Taeyong with a large red welt on his forehead. Irene was scary, but Irene with a gun was even scarier.

She radioed Moonbyul. "I'm done. Let the real game begin."

_Taeyong out. Red flag has been taken._

XXX

Now the game was in full swing as the treaty between Nayeon and Moonbyul came to an end. The first few players from each team fell quickly and without much fanfare.

_Jihyo out. Mina out. Wheein out. Yeri out._

Both teams were pretty evenly-matched however and it wasn't long before Seulgi and Solar fell afoul of some of Nayeon's team.

Seulgi knew her orders: keep Yongsun safe for as long as she could. It wasn't looking good though, they were outnumbered 3-2.

"Damn it," Seulgi cursed as she ducked down to avoid a new hail of paintballs coming from her right. Solar had pulled her behind an embankment, but the other team was beginning to flank them, and it seemed that they were only focused on eliminating Solar. She radioed the rest of her team. "Moonbyul they found us we need help."

"Stay put as long as you can, Wendy and I are on the way. Just keep them distracted. They want Solar because she's such a good shot, but they've forgotten about Irene."

"You planned this," Seulgi said, peeking out from her hiding spot to return fire. "Solar is supposed to get eliminated."

"Mhm. While the two of you attract all of Nayeon's team Irene is going to take their flag."

Seulgi ducked to avoid getting hit by Chaeyoung. "Hurry up then. We're not going to last."

"Byul told you the plan?" Solar asked, calmly setting up her gun and eliminating Chaeyoung.

_Chaeyoung out._

"Yeah. Guess we go out in a blaze of glory then." By now the rest of Nayeon's team had them surrounded.

"Give it up guys, we have you surrounded," came Nayeon's triumphant voice. "And once we take out Solar the rest of your team is going to be a breeze."

Solar nodded to Seulgi and the two of them came out of their hiding spot with their hands up. Distract them for as long as you can.

"You found us, Nayeon," Solar said eyeing the six remaining girls that were surrounding them in a semi-circle. "But you've lost one of your best fighters," she jerked her head over to Chaeyoung who was pouting, a blue paint splatter on her chest.

"We're still at an advantage once you two are out," Nayeon countered, raising her gun. "An even trade."

Seulgi's radio crackled to life. That was the signal. Solar smiled. "Are you sure about that, Nayeon?"

Nayeon was about to shoot them both when everyone's watches buzzed with a new notification.

_Green flag has been taken. Blue team wins._

Nayeon's grin disappeared and she growled, putting down her gun. They had played her.

"You really should have left at least a couple of defenders on your flag instead of calling all your forces to deal with Seulgi and I." Solar picked up her gun and took the ammo out. "I hope Sunmi isn't too creative with her punishments this time around."

Nayeon swore but offered her hand to Solar who shook it. "Me too. Good game, guys."

The nine of them walked back to the clearing where everyone who had been ousted had gathered. Sunmi looked pleased at the amount of paint that had been shot. "Fantastic game, everyone. Blue team, I loved your strategy. Green team, nice fight but you couldn't bring it home. Five laps around the Academy, starting as soon as we finish here."

Nayeon's team sighed. Five laps around the Academy would take at least an hour to complete. Seulgi was surprised at the scale of the punishment for second place and she was glad they had won.

"Red team." Sunmi's gaze fell on Taeyong's team. "You let yourselves get double teamed and couldn't counter it. Fifteen laps around the Academy, and I better see you working at it."

Taeyong looked like he was about to be sick.

"Oh my god that's brutal," Seulgi whispered.

"Told you," Wendy replied. "PE with Sunmi is no joke. I am glad Taeyong lost though, he deserves to get knocked down a peg or two. I kind of feel bad for his boys though."

Moonbyul joined them, "I don't. All's fair in love and paintball. Come on, we're going out for a victory dinner, on me."

The two girls grinned and fell in line with the rest of their team as they walked back to the Academy. Solar and Hwasa were chatting animatedly, and Irene and Joy were comparing their statistics from the match. Moonbyul pulled Seulgi aside.

"Hey, so I know you're going out with Irene on Friday. Any ideas of where you wanna go?"

Seulgi shook her head. "She told me she'd come up with the plan, so I'll let her do her thing."

"What kind of stuff do you like doing? Like movies, dinner, mini-golf…" Moonbyul was _not_ subtle at all about her questions.

Seulgi caught on quickly. "You're going to pass this along to Joohyun, aren't you?"

Moonbyul nodded. "Look, I offered to prod you for information. Joohyun's the type of girl who wants her dates to go as well as they possibly can. I'm trying to tell her to just go with the flow, you two like each other, that's the big thing. Everything else will come on its own."

Seulgi smiled, "That's chivalrous of her. To be honest though, I don't have a preference. Like you said, it's not about the location but about spending time with someone you enjoy."

"I'll pass that along then. And hey, good luck on Friday. We'll have the mandatory 'I'll break your bones if you break her heart' talk if everything goes well."

"Noted," Seulgi said.

Solar approached the two of them, "Byul, Wheein and I have been talking team names. What do you think about Mamamoo?"

Moonbyul stopped in her tracks. "Mamamoo? Sounds horrible." She looked back at Solar who looked like she was about to cry and Moonbyul backpedaled. "I mean, I love it. You two did a great job. Mamamoo it is."

She quickly turned around to get away from her girlfriend so she wouldn't have to talk anymore.

Solar's expression brightened immediately and she winked at Seulgi, who covered her mouth with a hand to stifle a snort. "Works every time."


	19. Chapter 19

Irene rushed back to her dorm after her afternoon classes. She was due to take Seulgi out for their date in a few hours and there was just one thing she needed to do to tie all her plans together. Dropping off her bags haphazardly on her bed, she pulled out her tablet and dialed a number.

"Joohyun? What are you doing calling this early?" The voice on the other end of the line sounded like they were still half-asleep. Irene glanced at the clock on her desk to make sure she wasn't having a stroke. Sure enough, the clock read 2:30.

"Early? Teuk, it's half past two."

Leeteuk groaned and Irene could hear him getting out of bed. She rolled her eyes and waited for her mentor to wake up a bit. He must have been up late last night.

"I didn't exactly get a good night's sleep last night," the Champion explained. He yawned into the phone. "Heechul and I went out with a bunch of other Champions and…" he paused, unsure if he should elaborate further.

"The two of you went out and got drunk, didn't you?" Irene asked. She didn't sound accusatory, which Leeteuk was thankful for. He'd already had to field calls from Taeyeon about how she'd appreciate it if he didn't sing karaoke while completely smashed.

"I am a Champion, I am allowed to have fun occasionally," he sniffed. "But enough about me, what's up with you?"

Irene gulped. She needed a favor from Leeteuk to make this date night perfect but there wasn't really a way she could subtly ask him without revealing everything. So she sighed and made up her mind to just tell him. "I-I wanted to ask you for a favor. I have a date tonight and I—"

Leeteuk could hardly contain his excitement, despite the pounding headache lingering behind his ears. He'd been talking with Hyuna and wondering when Irene would trust him enough to open up and tell him things. It looked like today was that day. "You have a date?"

"Yeah," Irene's answer was wary, almost as if she expected him to scold her.

"I am so happy for you!" Well that wasn't the response she was expecting. "Tell me everything Joohyun, who was it that managed to break through and steal your heart?" Irene could almost picture Leeteuk jumping up and down with glee.

"You met her that night you stayed over at the Moon Manor for dinner. Her name is Seulgi."

"Seulgi? You mean your _roommate_ Seulgi?" Leeteuk couldn't help the surprise in his voice. Out of all the people to break through his mentee's walls, he never thought it would be her roommate. "I don't know what to say, Joohyun. Except that you got lucky, Seulgi looks like a very nice girl."

Irene paused on the other end of the line. Honestly she didn't expect Leeteuk to react the way he did. She was expecting him to scold her, but his response was warm. Almost like how she'd like her father to react. _If he wasn't such a dick._

"She is. I really like her, Leeteuk. I wanted to take her somewhere really nice for our date tonight, but I talked with Moonbyul earlier and she gave me some good ideas. Hence the favor. I was wondering if you could get me in at Taeyeon's restaurant tonight."

Taeyeon was a former Johto League Champion who moved cross-region to Kalos after her former mentee stepped up and took the mantle of current Champion. She had opened up a small, exclusive restaurant/bar that catered only to Champions (both League, Coordinator and Breeder) and their guests. The clientele was small and with the security that had been hired, Taengoo's had become a safe haven for celebrities to relax without worrying about rogue reporters or fans. It was the perfect place for Irene to take Seulgi.

"Of course I can, I'll let her know right away to put you on the list," Leeteuk beamed.

Irene let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Thanks a million, Leeteuk. It's just after that whole thing with the reporter I wanted to take her someplace where we could just sit and eat without any threats hanging over my head."

"I'm sure she'll love it," he said. "I hope you haven't run yourself ragged overthinking this date. I know this girl is important to you but I want you to focus on school."

"I promise I've been keeping up with my schoolwork and everything _Dad,_" Irene assured him. "And Moonbyul made sure I didn't stress out too much. I'm in a good place."

Leeteuk couldn't believe his luck. Irene had never been this open and casual with him before and it made his heart soar. And hearing her joke and call him "Dad" was the icing on the cake. He had to thank Seulgi for helping Irene open up. Maybe he'd send her a gift basket…

"Good. I'll even send a car over to the Academy tonight to pick you two up." Leeteuk's tablet beeped with another call and he swore under his breath. He didn't want to end this conversation with Irene but he had some League business to attend to. "You two have fun tonight and be safe. I don't want either of you pressuring the other into doing anything. Now if you'll excuse me, Siebold is calling and I swear if that man wants to allocate more of our budget to install more art in his stadium I'll kill him."

Irene laughed, "I'll let you go then. And Teuk?"

"Yeah?"

"You don't know how much this means to me. I really _really_ appreciate it." She hung up and Leeteuk sighed softly.

"I think I kind of get the idea though, Joohyun. Good luck tonight little one. If anyone deserves a little happiness, it's you." He made a note to call Taeyeon after this and get Irene's name on the list before switching lines to answer the call from his Elite Four member.

"Siebold if your first words to me are "I just _have_ to have this sculpture for my stadium" I'll demote you…"

XXX

"Today's the daaaay," Wendy said in a sing-song voice, nudging Seulgi with her shoulder. The two of them were on their way back from art, which would be their last class of the day. Seulgi had signed up for art as her elective because she loved drawing. It didn't matter the subject or style, she just enjoyed putting a pencil to paper and letting herself be creative. Wendy had signed up for art because it was the least demanding elective, and she got to spend two hours every Friday doodling in her notebooks.

"Don't remind me," Seulgi whined, readjusting the shoulder strap on her art portfolio case. "I'm already nervous."

"That makes two of us," Wendy replied cheerfully. "Believe me, Seulgi I want this date to go as well as it can. Then when you and Irene become an official couple I can con both of you into joining my team for the competition."

Seulgi huffed, "Is that all I am to you? A means to an end? I thought we were friends."

Wendy linked her arm with Seulgi's as they approached their dorm. "We _are_ friends. And friends help their friends win competitions by coercing one of the best Trainers in the world to join them."

"You disgust me." There was no bite to Seulgi's words though, and Wendy just started laughing.

"Seriously, Seul. I'm proud of you. You're an amazing girl and you deserve the world. Irene would be a fool not to treat you right."

Seulgi's smile was bright enough to be seen from far away. "Have I ever told you how amazing you are, Wendy?"

"Multiple times, but please tell me more. I enjoy getting my ego boosted as much as the next girl."

Seulgi's tablet buzzed and she almost dropped her portfolio in her haste to answer it. "Irene!"

"Hey Seulgi," came the soft reply. "Can you meet me out by the administrative building?"

Oh my Arceus, it was time. Seulgi unconsciously started breathing faster and Wendy had to put a comforting hand on her back to calm her down. "Y-yeah. I'll be right there."

"I'll see you soon then." Irene hung up and Seulgi swore she could almost hear the note of nervousness in the older girl's voice.

"Oh my god, you two are absolutely useless," Wendy said, gently taking Seulgi's portfolio off her shoulder. "I'll take this back to my room, just message me when you're on your back home. Be safe out there tonight, and remember if she doesn't treat you right I'll sic my Sawsbuck on her, Champion or not."

Seulgi froze, suddenly realizing she was in her casual art clothes. "Oh my Arceus, I have to change. I can't go out with Irene looking like this. She'll think I'm a slob."

She was getting nervous again but thankfully Wendy was there. "Hey, Seulgi. Look at me. You look fine. Irene told you this would be a casual, no-pressure thing, right? So trust her. You're gorgeous."

Seulgi shot Wendy a small smile. She'd never really had any close girlfriends before, and Wendy was more than she could have ever asked for. "Wendy, you're the best."

The shorter girl made a shooing motion with her free hand, hoisting Seulgi's portfolio over her shoulder. "I wanna know all the details when you get back. Now go enjoy your date."

Seulgi all but ran to the administrative building, her breath catching in her throat when she saw Irene leaning against a sleek black town car. She looked absolutely breathtaking even though she was dressed just as casually as Seulgi.

Irene's face brightened as soon as she caught a glimpse of Seulgi, and she unconsciously patted her blouse down to make sure nothing was out of place. Her team of Pokémon were on her belt, giving her a little bit of comfort. It was nice to know her team would always be by her side.

Seulgi stopped less than three feet from Irene and the two of them took a moment to just bask in each other's presence.

"You look nice," Seulgi broke the silence, her eyes raking up and down Irene's body. True to her word, the Champion was dressed casually, wearing a light blue blouse whose sleeves were just a bit too long for her, a pair of jeans and white sneakers.

"I could say the same thing about you," was Irene's reply. Seulgi looked down at her plaid button up. Was that a little smear of orange paint on the bottom? Yet Irene couldn't seem to take her eyes of Seulgi. Irene cleared her throat, "Are you ready to go?"

"Totally." Irene opened the passenger side door for Seulgi and waited for her to get in before getting in the driver's side. The interior of the car was well-maintained and clean. A cute little Bonsly charm hung from the rearview mirror. "Wow, nice car."

Irene smiled, "It belongs to my mentor, Leeteuk. He didn't have to go this fancy when I asked to borrow a car for tonight, but I think he also wants tonight to go well."

"Everyone but us seems to be confident about tonight," Seulgi chuckled as they exited out the front gates of the Academy and drove towards the city center. "Not that I don't think tonight won't go well it's just—" she stopped talking, her cheeks heating up.

Irene's laugh was full and genuine. _Seulgi is absolutely adorable._ "I get what you're saying. Can you tell I don't do this often?"

"You and me both," Seulgi replied. "Where are we going?"

"I thought we could start simple and go out for dinner. I know a place." Seulgi was a little worried. What if someone saw them eating together? That would definitely start up the rumor mill again. Irene must have seen the worry on her face because she quickly reassured her. "Hey. We'll be fine. Can you trust that I wouldn't take us anywhere I didn't think could be discreet?"

They drove together for fifteen or so minutes before Irene pulled into a small parking lot. This section of downtown was known for its pricey boutiques and top-quality battle merchandise and Seulgi wondered if they were dressed a little too casually.

But Irene led her to the end of the block where a simple set of oak doors stood, guarded by two security guards in black suits. A sign above the doors read_ Taengoo's_. "We're here." The Champion turned to address the two men. "Good evening, gentlemen. I should be on the list. Joohyun, party of two?"

The taller security guard looked up the name on his tablet and nodded, gesturing for the other guard to open the doors for them. If they recognized the Champion of the Kalos League they didn't show it. "Have a good evening, Ms. Joohyun."

Seulgi was impressed as Irene took her by the hand and led her inside. What kind of place was Irene taking her to?

The inside of _Taengoo's_ was warm, homey and had almost a café-like atmosphere, the complete opposite of what Seulgi was expecting, given the tight security. Seulgi could only count four other people in the room with them, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it but they all seemed familiar somehow. Several tables and booths lined one side of the building, and a small bar area took up the other corner. A pretty brunette with long hair manned the bar, and upon seeing the two girls walk in she waved and walked over to them.

"You must be Joohyun," she said, offering her hand in greeting. "I'm Taeyeon, I own the place."

Seulgi's eyes widened. There was no way…what was a former Johto League Champion doing here in Kalos? Moreover, what was said Champion doing running a restaurant in Kalos?

"Nice to meet you, Taeyeon. Thank you for managing to get me in on such a short notice, I really appreciate it."

Taeyeon shook her head. "Don't worry about it, it's not often I get a call from a hungover Leeteuk asking me to put his mentee on the entrance list. As long as you promise not to get wasted and start singing karaoke while standing on top of my bar you'll be fine."

Irene smiled, turning to Seulgi. "This is _Taengoo's_. Only Champions and their guests are allowed inside, so we don't have to worry about anybody crashing our date."

"It's a humble little operation," Taeyeon chimed in, "But I wanted to make a place where celebrities could just relax and wind down, away from the public eye. You guys can take a seat wherever you want, I'll have someone come by to take your order." Taeyeon returned to her post at the bar, and Irene led Seulgi to a two-seater table.

"I hope this place is alright," Irene said, glancing around at their surroundings. She couldn't help the residual nervousness even though both Leeteuk and Moonbyul had assured her that no media or rogue fans could approach her here.

"It's perfect, Joohyun," Seulgi replied, taking Irene's hand in her own to soothe the other girl. Their eyes met and Seulgi couldn't help the little gasp that fell from her lips. Irene's brown eyes were captivating.

The moment was broken a second later when a waiter came by to talk about the menu. There was a small variety of comfort foods and drinks, nothing too fancy, but all of it was locally sourced and high quality. Seulgi ordered a drink called Yellow Breeze, non-alcoholic of course. Irene took a minute to look over the drink menu and settled on something called a Pink Island Iced Tea. For food, they both agreed to share a pizza.

They talked while waiting for their food to come out, and Seulgi enjoyed every minute of their conversation. When she first met Irene she didn't peg the older girl for much of a conversationalist but now that they were in a comfortable setting, words between them flowed smoothly. Seulgi had to admit that this was quickly becoming the _best_ date she'd ever been on.

When their food arrived, the talking ceased as both girls loaded up their plates. They didn't talk much as they dug into the delicious food but even so, there was something nice about just spending time next to each other. Seulgi kept sneaking glances at Irene and every time she got caught she waved it off. Little did she know that Irene was guilty of the exact same crime.

Irene went up to the bar to pay for their meal after they had finished but Taeyeon waved her off. "It's already been taken care of. On the house."

"Are you sure, I don't want to—"

"I insist. It's not often I get treated to the beautiful sight of a young couple on a date." Taeyeon glanced wistfully at a picture behind the bar of a younger version of her, whose arms were wrapped protectively around the waist of another young woman. "Cherish her for as long as you can, Irene."

Irene looked back at Seulgi, who was busy setting all the dishes to one side of the table so the waiter wouldn't have to do it when he came by. "You don't have to tell me twice. Thank you, Taeyeon."

"Tell Leeteuk that when he and Heechul come by next time I'm cutting them off at four drinks!" Taeyeon yelled as they left, winking at Irene.

"Will do!" Irene shook her head when Seulgi looked at her questioningly. "I'll tell you later."

XXX

Irene took Seulgi for another short drive, and it wasn't long before they had parked again. Seulgi got out and looked at the backlit sign in front of her. _Welcome to Serenity River._

"Welcome to the second part of our date tonight," Irene said as she got out, reaching for her belt and releasing her Ninetales from its ball before disappearing around the side of the car. Her Pokémon appeared gracefully and yipped at Seulgi in greeting, pushing her head against Seulgi's hand to demand affection. Irene reappeared a second later, carrying several large plush blankets and a bag of cookies. "You mentioned before that you liked visiting Iki town in Alola to spend time by the lake. This is the closest I could get unfortunately."

Seulgi's heart beat heavily in her chest. She had mentioned that tidbit to Irene more than a month ago, and only once. How the Champion had managed to remember that small detail she'd never know. If it was possible to fall even more in love with Irene, Seulgi did. Even if this wasn't an isolated and calm lake because it ran right through the middle of downtown, since it was with Irene it was perfect. "This is better than anything I could have imagined."

Seulgi released her Vulpix from its ball and let him romp around with Irene's Ninetales while the two of them walked down the riverside pathway together. The sun had long since set and the only light came from the streetlamps that lined the path, keeping it illuminated. A few bright stars had managed to push past the light pollution from the city, where they hung twinkling in the sky. They found a nice grassy area not far from the water, where they set up the blankets and sat down. No one would be able to tell from a distance that they were anything other than a young couple on a date.

There were a few Remoraid and Magikarp floating lazily down the river, but they quickly disappeared when Vulpix ran up to the water's edge on tiny legs, trying in vain to catch them. Irene's Ninetales quickly herded the young fox Pokémon away from the water and towards the two girls. Ninetales curled up at Irene's feet and Vulpix crawled in-between the bigger Pokémon's paws to lie down.

"Aw," Seulgi giggled at the cute picture in front of her.

"I'm still surprised that Aeolus took to your Vulpix so quickly. I can count the number of Pokémon she's allowed to lie close to her on one hand. Not even Dante could get that close to her without provoking a snap." Irene opened the bag of cookies and set them between her and Seulgi, gathering up one of the blankets and putting it over both their legs. "Maybe it's a sign."

"Maybe," Seulgi's mouth was already filled with cookies. Since Irene had been the first one to bring up her old partner she decided to try and keep the conversation going. "What kind of partner was Dante?"

Irene looked up at the night sky. "I received him as a Charmander from my local Pokémon professor when I was ten. We spent a couple of years around my hometown while I learned how to train him. My father would be away on business most of the time so Dante quickly became my best friend. It wasn't until I was almost fourteen that I decided to take on the Kalos League. I had seen an article about a young girl from Hoenn who was blasting through the gym circuit and was on track to becoming the youngest crowned Champion in history."

"Moonbyul?" Seulgi guessed, and Irene nodded.

"She inspired me. Of course the road to the Pokémon League is extremely difficult, so it took a while for Dante and I to find more teammates and get our footing. Aeolus and Garm were the first two to join the team. I got them from a breeder friend of my father's." Irene laughed sarcastically, "Ironically he treated me better than my father ever did. At least he believed in my dream. All my father wanted was for me to one day take over the business and marry into an equally rich family."

Seulgi laid down with her arms behind her head as she listened to Irene tell the rest of her story. "Yeah, your dad seems like a dick."

"You have no idea…but anyway. The three of us took on the first gym and won easily thanks to a type advantage. Dante evolved into a Charmeleon. I'll never forget what Viola told me after our victory. I told her that I wanted to try and make it all the way to the Pokémon League. She told me 'I see the way your Pokémon look at you. And I see the way you give your everything to your Pokémon. The road to Champion will be long. There will be times when you want to give up. I want you to think about this moment whenever things look like they're becoming too difficult. Even if it seems like the entire world is against you, you still have your team. They will love you unconditionally, and together you'll be able to fight through even the darkest of times.'"

"That's really good advice," Seulgi said, thinking over the words she'd just been told.

"It's something I took to heart, though I'm afraid I almost lost sight of it when Dante died. When it happened, my whole world was suddenly chaotic and dark. How could I face the future without my partner by my side? He'd been with me since the beginning, seen me to the ultimate glory as a Pokémon Trainer. He protected me, and when it came down to it, I couldn't protect him."

"He got sick though, right? There was no way you could've seen that coming."

"Logically, I knew that. Of course I knew that. You sometimes can't help the hand you've been dealt. But I was anything but logical. Here I was, newly minted Kalos Champion. My father had finally seen how useful it would be to have a celebrity daughter, and he threw me into a rigorous press schedule to capitalize off my newfound fame. I didn't have any close friends aside from Moonbyul and Solar so when things started getting worse there weren't a lot of people I could turn to. They had their own rising careers too."

Seulgi hummed, "It must have been difficult."

"Honestly, it still is. I forget sometimes that Dante's only been gone for a less than a year. It seems so long ago. Moonbyul told me that it would be good for me to come back to the Academy and focus on something else so I wouldn't let myself get swallowed up by the grief." Irene looked down at Seulgi. "And honestly? I'm glad I did. Otherwise I wouldn't have run into you. Literally."

Seulgi's ears reddened. "I hoped you forgot about that."

"It's hard to forget you. You literally sent me bouncing back down the stairs." Seulgi sat up again and entwined her fingers with Irene's. "You made me feel something, Kang Seulgi."

Seulgi blushed. "Did I ever tell you that seeing your Championship fight against Leeteuk was how I first starting crushing on you?"

Irene looked surprised. "You watched that?"

"Of course I did. Your Pokémon were all incredibly strong, and your sense of strategy was unparalleled. And I don't know if you've noticed, Joohyun, but you're kind of gorgeous. Who wouldn't have a bit of a crush on you?"

"_Kind_ of gorgeous?" Irene wiggled her eyebrows mischievously and Seulgi quickly stammered out an apology. "I'm flattered, Seulgi. So this is sort of a dream for you right now, isn't it?"

Seulgi's blush deepened even further. "Maybe…"

Irene leaned in and placed a feather-light kiss on Seulgi's lips. "And this? Is it everything you imagined it would be?"

"More," came Seulgi's breathy reply. She wanted, no she _needed_ more from the Kalos Champion.

Irene chuckled, her breath leaving goosebumps down Seulgi's arms. She ripped the blanket off their legs and rolled over until both her knees were on either side of Seulgi's legs and she was on top of the taller girl. Seulgi was frozen, her brain unable to comprehend that Irene was quite literally straddling her. Irene placed a small hand on the side of Seulgi's cheek and went for another kiss.

Seulgi's brain completely shorted out as she found herself leaning into the kiss. An impatient whine escaped her throat and Irene immediately deepened the kiss. By Arceus, was this the best thing she'd ever experienced. Irene's warm weight against her body as the older girl took the reins and kept kissing her. Seulgi felt as though her heart was about to burst with sheer affection when Irene broke their kiss to look into her eyes, her gaze asking for permission to continue.

All Seulgi could do was nod and let herself be swept away by the moment, with Irene's lips on hers. Best. Date. Ever.


	20. Chapter 20

By the time Seulgi and Irene got home that night it was well past the stated curfew and the two of them had to sneak back onto the campus after putting Leeteuk's car back in one of the League garages downtown. Seulgi was a little worried, she'd never been the type of girl to break the rules. Irene was bringing out her wild side, and admittedly she kind of liked the rush of adrenaline that accompanied sneaking past the large wrought-iron gates of the Academy. A rush that was not unlike the one she got when kissing Irene.

They waited with bated breath by a grove of trees just outside the Academy until the night security walked by, accompanied by a trio of Mightyena. As soon as he and his Pokémon were far enough away they slipped in through a break in the fence and hurried back to Dorm One.

Where they were immediately spotted by Moonbyul, who was waiting for them in the common room. The Hoenn Champion was relaxing on one of the couches, legs crossed and eyebrows raised. Irene whispered something in Seulgi's ear and gently nudged the other girl in the direction of their room. Seulgi cleared her throat and bowed her head to Moonbyul in greeting before skirting past the dorm captain and hurrying to their room.

Which left Irene to deal with her friend.

"You didn't get back until after curfew," Moonbyul accused, though the mischievous twinkle in her eyes betrayed her true feelings. She mimed wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "I am so proud."

Irene blushed, "Please stop talking, Byul."

"And do my eyes deceive me or is your lip gloss smudged?" Irene unconsciously touched her lips with one hand. Moonbyul had to stifle the laugh that was threatening to burst out. "You guys had fun I take it."

Irene looked over in the direction of their room as if to check and make sure Seulgi hadn't re-appeared. Confident that they weren't about to be overheard she mumbled, "She's amazing. And I know it's still too early to say anything yet, but I think I found someone I want to be with for a very long time."

Something about Irene's almost love-stricken expression whenever the older girl talked about Seulgi reminded Moonbyul of when she and Yongsun first started out. There was definitely a spark between the Kalos Champion and her roommate and Moonbyul couldn't wait to see how things would turn out.

"I'm glad you've found someone, Joohyun," Moonbyul said sincerely. "I know you haven't been in many serious relationships before, and if you decide to take things further with Seulgi things won't always be sunshine and roses. You'll have to work through your problems and communicate with each other."

Irene nodded seriously. A good sign, Moonbyul thought. She was taking this to heart. "I _really_ like Seulgi, Byul. I know I'm not the most open person, but I'm learning to let down my walls around her. It'll be hard sometimes, and I'm not looking forward to our first argument but she's worth fighting for."

"Good. That's all I can ask for. Know your value and understand your partner's value too." Moonbyul stood up and drew Irene into a hug.

Irene wrapped her arms around her friend and hummed in contentment. "Thank you for waiting up for us."

"I'm a good dorm captain, Joohyun. I take the welfare of all my fellow students seriously." As they pulled apart she added, "But I'll definitely give Seulgi the 'break her heart and I'll break your legs' talk. I even have a script written out."

Irene laughed and playfully smacked Moonbyul's shoulder as the Hoenn Champion left the common room to go back to her room on the second floor. Unable to keep the smile off her face, Irene walked down the hall and opened the door to their shared room.

Seulgi was sitting at her desk, sifting through a small pile of past homework assignments and organizing them by date so she could better access them in the future. Upon hearing the door open she swiveled around in her chair, brows knit in concern. "Are we in trouble?"

Irene quickly shook her head, depositing her team in one of the overnight healers. "Far from it. Byul just wanted to make sure we got home safe."

The worry melted off Seulgi's face. "Oh. Good."

"Who do you think told me about the break in the fence that was never properly fixed?" Seulgi's mouth dropped open. "She and Solar were quite the adventurous couple back in the day."

"The more you know…" Seulgi said in disbelief. She placed her papers in one of the desk drawers and stood up, stifling a yawn. Irene had gone into the bathroom and Seulgi could hear her brushing her teeth. "Joohyun?"

"Mmm?" came the muted reply.

"Never mind, I'll wait until you're done." Seulgi took the next several minutes to put her own team away for the evening and slide into a pair of pajamas.

Irene came out of the bathroom wearing her sleepwear. She sat on the foot of her bed and plugged her tablet into the outlet so it could charge. Finding Seulgi going through their stock of battle items she asked, "What were you saying earlier?"

"I just wanted to say I had a lot of fun tonight." Seulgi looked down, unsure if she should say anything else. What more was there? Irene had gone above and beyond to make sure their date was not only fun, but relaxing as well.

Irene, meanwhile had already decided what she wanted to say next. The moment seemed right. "Enough fun for me to ask you out on a second date?"

The smile Seulgi gave her meant she had her answer. "Definitely."

She climbed the stairs that led to her loft above Irene's bed and the Kalos Champion could hear Seulgi collapse on her bed with a thump. Irene found the light switch and blanketed the room in darkness.

Neither of them were able to fall asleep though, as both of their tablets suddenly began to buzz with activity. Irene groaned, rolling over in her bed and making a weak attempt to grab her tablet.

"Hey, Joohyun?" came the sound of Seulgi's voice. "About that second date…looks like it's gonna have to wait."

"Why?" the older girl all but growled as she finally grabbed a hold of her tablet to read the message that had just been sent out by the Academy.

"Wendy was right. They announced the rules for the second dorm competition."

_Dear Students,_

_As I'm sure rumors have been flying around about the specifics of this upcoming dorm competition, allow me to put these rumors to rest. _

_This second and final dorm competition of the semester will allow you to form your own groups in order to compete in an elimination-style tournament. There are no limits to the size of team you wish to create but please keep in mind that there will only be a certain number of battles throughout the day, so if you want an opportunity to take to the battlefield a smaller team is recommended._

_The competition itself will begin one week from today, from Friday to Sunday. Attached to this message is a copy of the registration form, please fill it out with your team's information and return it to the administration building by 11:59 pm next Thursday. _

_Good luck and good battles._

_All the best,_

_Professor Kim Dongwan_

As excited as Irene was for the second competition, she couldn't help but sigh audibly at the timing of it all.

XXX

**6 Days Until Competition**

"Did you ask her?" Wendy slid into the seat next to Seulgi, taking out her tablet and pulling up the team registration form. "I don't meant to sound pushy but if we manage to get Irene on our team we're basically guaranteed to win."

"I'll ask her tonight, yesterday was kind of a whirlwind." Seulgi couldn't hide the smile on her face as she thought about their date.

"It was that fun, huh?" Wendy raised her eyebrows. "Did you two…?"

She left the question hanging but Seulgi was easily able to catch on to what Wendy was implying. Unfortunately she caught on right in the middle of drinking from her water bottle. Wendy had to shield her tablet from the spray of water that came out of Seulgi's mouth. "Arceus no!"

Wendy thumped Seulgi on the back as the taller girl wheezed. It took a good minute for Seulgi to catch her breath. "Oof, sorry I brought it up."

Seulgi waved her hands, refusing to accept Wendy's apology. "No, it's just…that was our first date. We kissed, that's about it."

"Cool, cool. By the way Seul your face is bright red." Seulgi's eyes widened.

"Why is Seulgi's face red?" Joy asked, walking by their table arm in arm with Yeri. "Oh, did she and Irene…?"

"Congrats!" Yeri chirped. "Who knew you were so forward?"

"Please shut up," Seulgi begged, trying to hide her face. She should have expected this from Wendy and her roommates. Was it too late for her to throw herself into the nearest road in order for her to avoid the sheer embarrassment?

Wendy smacked her two roommates upside the head, turning to Seulgi to apologize. "I'm sorry, we'll stop now, I promise. But come on, did the Seulgi from three months ago think she'd end up dating Bae Joohyun?"

Seulgi had to admit that Wendy had a point. When she transferred to the Academy at the beginning of the semester her overarching goal was to _meet_ Irene. And if things went well, maybe become her friend. Needless to say things had gone far further than she'd ever expected.

"No, she didn't." Seulgi said.

Jihyo walked in the classroom and began setting up the day's presentation on responsibly breeding Pokémon for certain stats. Everyone settled down as she dimmed the lights and began speaking.

"All right, last week we went over how one can breed Pokémon to have a stronger aptitude in things like Special Attack and Defense. This week we're expanding on that and talking about how one can breed _out_ certain traits and characteristics. Some competitively minded Trainers prefer their Pokémon to have incredibly specific stats in order to maximize their team's potential. One of which we'll go over today is the use of Trick Room as a strategy and how some breeders completely breed _out_ a Pokémon's Speed stat…"

Seulgi tuned Jihyo out as the other girl lectured the class on the proper way to breed out a Pokémon's Speed stat for use in competitive battling. She still took notes on the important parts of her friend's lecture (she was still in it to win the shiny Ralts at the end of the semester) but she soon started doodling in her notebook as her mind wandered back to Irene.

She had to admit there was something about watching Irene battle that left her both incredibly impressed and incredibly attracted to the Champion. The fire in Irene's eyes that ignited whenever she was out on the field inspired Seulgi. And if she had the opportunity to battle by her side in an actual tournament?

Wendy tapped her shoulder and handed her a scrap of paper. Seulgi rolled her eyes. Were they really resorting to passing notes in class?

_Remember. Ask Irene TONIGHT. Also, can I copy your notes from last class?_

Seulgi crumpled up the note Wendy had passed her and stuck it in her backpack, turning to her left to shoot the girl what she thought was a look of annoyance. Wendy seemed to take it as encouragement though and made grabby hands towards Seulgi's notes.

Seulgi sighed and slid her notes over to Wendy. One day she'd really have to learn how to say no to her friend…

**5 Days Until Competition**

Sunday was the only truly free day for students at the Academy. Most students, including Seulgi and Irene, had classes scheduled for Saturdays so this was the first time the two of them had managed to spend some quality time together since their date.

It was moments like these that made Seulgi realize just how lucky she was. Three months ago Irene was cold and distant, unwilling to even give Seulgi a chance to get to know her. And now? Now Seulgi had her head in the other girl's lap, Irene's fingers carding through her hair absentmindedly while they talked about the upcoming dorm competition.

"So exactly how many people have asked you to be on their team?" Seulgi asked, knowing that since the teams were free game everyone would kill to have a Champion on their side.

"At least six," Irene replied. "Jennie came up to me after breakfast to ask if I'd join them."

"And you haven't said yes to any of them?" Seulgi hoped she didn't look too happy. She didn't have the chance to ask Irene yet if she'd join them.

"…I was waiting for a certain person to ask me. You may have seen her around campus." Irene laughed, looking down at Seulgi. "She's gorgeous, super smart, has the cutest Bewear I think I've ever seen…"

Seulgi's face lit up. "In that case let me be the seventh person to ask you. Bae Joohyun will you be on my team for the dorm competition?"

Irene smirked. "I guess I'll settle for you."

**4 Days Until Competition**

"We have a problem, Seulgi." Wendy pulled her aside after class and dragged Seulgi down the hall into an empty classroom.

"What's wrong?"

"Everyone wants Irene on their team and even though she's already agreed to join us some of the other teams don't like that. They're challenging us for the right to poach her away from our team."

Seulgi's eyebrows wrinkled. "Wait, they can do that?"

"It's hidden somewhere in the bylaws for tournaments like this, I'm just surprised other people actually bothered to read the fine print," Wendy said dismissively. "The point is, Jennie and her girls want Irene on their team and they've challenged _you_ to a battle."

"Me?" Seulgi squeaked. "Why me and not you or Joy or Yeri?"

Wendy looked at her like she was stupid. "Because _you're_ the one currently making out with said Champion at every opportunity."

Seulgi couldn't help the blush that began spreading across her cheeks. "So what do I do?"

Wendy shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you could refuse to battle but that opens up a whole other can of worms about 'fair play' and 'honor'…"

Seulgi let out a sigh. It looked like she was getting boxed in a corner, and the only way out was to concede to a battle. It seemed awfully archaic that someone could get poached from their team against their will, but she wasn't in the mood to unpack and analyze all the fine print in the Academy's rules. Still, the thought of battling for the right to have Irene on her team was a tempting one. It was probably her ego talking but…

"When did she want to battle?"


	21. Chapter 21

By the time Seulgi's last class let out that afternoon it seemed like the entire school knew about the upcoming battle between her and Jennie. Moonbyul and Namjoon had even used their dorm captain privileges to secure one of the school's battlefields for the occasion, and as she walked out of the art building she saw a stream of students making their way down to the arena. As a group of them passed her she heard them chattering with each other about who would come out on top.

"I've got my money on Jennie," one of the girls said confidently. "She's in one of my strategy classes and some of the stuff she comes up with is seriously impressive."

One of the other girls shook her head, "Nah, there's no way she'll beat Seulgi. You all saw her battle with Wendy."

"Gotta say I'm with Yuna on this one Chaeryeong," their friend added, tilting his head as he considered their opinions. "Seulgi's not one to be taken lightly."

Seulgi brushed by them carrying her art portfolio, a slight smile on her face. She had to admit it felt nice to have people being on her side. Gathering her thoughts, she walked across campus to the arenas, going over her strategies one more time for posterity. She was nervous, her stomach doing flip-flops in her belly as the arenas got closer and closer. Was this what Irene felt like before a big match?

Speaking of the Kalos Champion, she hoped Irene would be there to watch the battle. Seulgi didn't know where exactly their relationship was leading but she couldn't deny that every time she looked at her roommate her heart thumped with excitement. She knew Joohyun was the one of them with actual Champion credits but it would be nice to have her see Seulgi win. Oh Arceus, she hoped she won.

The stands circling the battlefield were already packed full of curious students. There was a clear divide among them as well. A good half of them were cheering for Seulgi, with Wendy, Joy and Yeri leading the pack. Irene sat next to them, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Even Moonbyul and her girlfriend had shown up, and as Seulgi gave them an awkward wave Moonbyul gave her a spirited thumbs-up in return.

The remaining students were cheering for Jennie, but none of them appeared to have any animosity towards Seulgi. Everyone just wanted to see a good Pokémon battle. Their referee for this match was none other than Jihyo, who promised to be fair with her judgements. The dorm captain took her place in the center of the arena and waited for the flood of gathered students to die down before putting on a microphone and addressing the crowd.

"How's everyone doing this fine Monday afternoon?"

The answering cheers were deafening.

Jihyo smiled, "I'm surprised we have such a big turnout for this match, most if not all of you know why this battle is taking place but I'm just going to take a second and reiterate. Our final dorm competition of the year is on Friday and final team compositions are due in only a few days. A challenge has been called for the right to poach a teammate from an opposing team. The winner of this battle will add said teammate to their roster."

"What am I, a piece of meat?" Irene grumbled in her seat, glowering petulantly at Jihyo. She knew there was no avoiding this match, but that didn't mean she liked having her autonomy being taken away. Damn fine print.

"You're a Champion piece of meat," Wendy supplied, not being helpful in the least. She _really_ hoped Seulgi would be able to pull off a win, if Irene did get poached by Jennie and her friends it would make the competition that much more difficult.

"Thanks for that, Wendy," Irene said sarcastically. She began bouncing her left leg up and down, a sign that she was really nervous about the upcoming fight.

"Are both challengers ready?" Jihyo called out. Seulgi and Jennie both nodded their heads. "Very well. This battle will be a traditional 3v3 match. First Trainer to knock out all three of her opponent's Pokémon will be declared the winner."

"May the best Trainer win," Jennie said to Seulgi. She was pleasantly surprised to see that the other girl had accepted her challenge. The fact that Seulgi came through with her declaration to see Jennie on the battlefield earned her a lot of respect in the other girl's eyes.

"And no hard feelings regardless of outcome," Seulgi replied, a fire starting to build in her gaze. She'd win this for Irene. But more importantly, she'd win to prove to everyone how dedicated she was to her Pokémon.

The two met in the middle of the battlefield and shook hands. Jihyo tossed a coin to determine who would make the first move and Jennie called it correctly. While the first move in a battle was important, Seulgi knew she couldn't let it decide the outcome.

"Alright ladies, let's have a nice clean battle." Jihyo waited for both of them to return to their respective sides, whistle in her hand.

Seulgi went over her strategy in her head. Whoever Jennie sent out first would determine how she should respond. _Remember what Irene taught you. Stay calm, stay focused and most importantly, understand the flow of the battle and adapt as it changes. No battle is over until the last Pokémon is down._

"Let's go, Milotic!"

XXX

Jennie's first Pokémon was a Milotic. _Fitting,_ Seulgi thought as the Water-Type appeared on the battlefield, waving its beautifully scaled tail. Milotic were known to be powerful special attackers, and they could also learn multiple self-healing moves, which could spell trouble for Seulgi and her more offensively minded team.

The stadium was silent as all the spectators waited for Seulgi's response. Several of her Pokémon were weak to water and ice-type moves, so she really only had one clear option for this fight.

"Come on Bewear!"

Her trusty partner Pokémon popped out of his Pokéball and faced down his opponent, barrel chest rumbling as he growled at Milotic. Jennie looked unbothered by the aggressive display and smiled. "We'll start things off. Aqua Ring!"

The entirety of Milotic's serpentine body glowed with blue light as a ring of water ran over its scales, forming a thin protective layer. Seulgi took note; every turn Jennie's Pokémon would be able to heal a bit of damage. The obvious answer was to deal enough damage in a small window of time to negate it. But there was something about Milotic that made her hesitate.

"Bewear, Brick Break!" Her Bewear charged forward and leaped for the Milotic, crashing down on it with a heavy thump, stirring up the arena's dirt floor and sending clouds of dust billowing up into the air. As the dust cleared however Milotic looked none worse for wear.

_Damn it, her Milotic must be trained in defense,_ Seulgi swore. Worse, what little damage she _had_ been able to do to it was quickly washed away by Aqua Ring. Things were not starting out so well.

Jennie's strategy seemed to hinge on her taking advantage of Milotic's defenses. The next few turns saw her using Safeguard, Coil and Recover to further bolster her already impressive defenses. Now not only was her Milotic immune from any status conditions it was also getting even stronger. If Seulgi didn't stop her now, Milotic would sweep her entire team.

"I saw your battle at the last competition," Jennies said as her Milotic managed to pull off another Coil. "Your strategy to stack Bulk Up on Bewear was impressive. I wonder how you'll deal with it being turned against you?"

By now Seulgi was running out of ideas. They'd exchanged several blows already and Bewear was slowly starting to look worn. Milotic though looked as hale and healthy as ever. Her Bewear was strong but every time his attacks connected they did less and less damage. She'd have to…no, that was an unthinkable idea.

Bewear seemed to notice her thinking though and he slid back to her side, head tilted questioningly. _I really don't want to have to do this buddy, but that Milotic is getting way too strong for my liking. Are you willing…?_

And though Seulgi wasn't physically talking with her partner everyone could see that they were sharing some sort of conversation with each other. Her Bewear warbled once and nodded his great head. He knew what he had to do.

"Bewear, use Giga Impact!" There was a noticeable ripple throughout the crowd as Seulgi called out her order. Giga Impact was an _incredibly_ powerful move but it came at a heavy price. Should the attack connect, the recoil damage would also hurt the user. And with the hits her partner had already taken he would definitely get knocked out from the recoil.

"What's she doing?" Wendy said, her eyes wide as Bewear began glowing the same brilliant white he did at the last dorm competition. "Bewear is just going to knock himself out!"

"Believe in her, Wendy," Irene replied, watching the battle with an eagle-eyed expression. Seulgi was by no means an amateur battler. "She knows what she's doing."

"I sure hope so," was the response.

There was a deafening boom as Bewear connected solidly with Milotic and the serpentine Pokémon was blown back a dozen feet. It wobbled uncertainly in the air, still able to use its power to hover several inches above the battlefield. It looked much worse for wear though as even its high defenses couldn't protect it from Bewear's sheer strength.

Seulgi's partner had done his job, but as everyone expected the attack was just too much for it to bear and it slumped on the ground, knocked out of the battle.

Jihyo waited several seconds to see if Bewear could get back up and called it once it became very clear that he was out. "Bewear is unable to battle. Milotic wins."

Jennie grinned. Sure, her Milotic had taken more damage than she would have liked but she could heal next turn and get rid of all the damage her Pokémon had taken. What was Seulgi thinking, sacrificing her partner like that.

Seulgi didn't look too broken up over her loss though. As a matter of fact she gave Jennie a wry smile. Seulgi tossed another Pokéball into the air. "Finish this, Garchomp."

Her second Pokémon appeared and the crowd went wild. Garchomp was a popular Pokémon to have on one's team, its high speed and attack meant opponents had to be very careful about how they handled it.

"Good girl," Irene praised from the sidelines, seeing Seulgi's strategy.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!" Before Jennie could even react Seulgi's Garchomp dashed forward in a blaze of speed and rammed its head into Milotic, sending the Pokémon flying backwards once again. Only this time it didn't get up.

Jennie's jaw dropped. Exactly how fast was Seulgi's Garchomp? It had moved before Jennie even had time to blink. She was going to heal this turn but Garchomp had completely ruined her plans.

The audience seemed to share Jennie's thoughts because once again the stadium was eerily silent.

Jihyo's voice broke the silence. "Milotic is unable to battle. Garchomp wins."

As if that sentence was a catalyst, the arena once again broke out into wild cheers. Seulgi had pulled off a wonderful counter.

"You planned on sacrificing Bewear to inflict enough damage and then trusted that Garchomp would be fast enough to finish off Milotic before I got a heal off?" Jennie was impressed. Maybe she shouldn't have challenged Seulgi…

"While Bewear and Milotic were battling I took a look at how your Pokémon reacted to attacks. I figured if it was so defensively trained it wouldn't have been fast." Jennie nodded, acknowledging the fact that Seulgi one-upped her.

"You won't be laughing for long though Seulgi. Delphox, make that Garchomp regret knocking out your teammate!"

Jennie's second Pokémon was a Delphox. The Fox Pokémon twitched its large ears back and forth as it analyzed the Garchomp before it. Seulgi had a type advantage since Delphox was weak to ground moves but she knew it would be stupid to rely on a type-matchup. She couldn't underestimate the Delphox.

A statement that turned out to be true when Jennie called, "Delphox, use Will-O-Wisp!"

Garchomp roared in pain as the attack hit. Seulgi swore. Will-O-Wisp wasn't a damage move but it would inflict Garchomp with a burn that would whittle down some of its health every turn. And not only that, but a burned Pokémon would deal half damage with physical attacks. _Which Garchomp relies on_, Seulgi thought.

Seulgi found herself becoming nervous. For every blow she dealt to Jennie, the other girl swung right back with smart plays. If Garchomp was fast _and _strong, cripple it by taking away the strong.

Both Pokémon swung at each other for several minutes, trading blows and weakening each other. Delphox's high special attack stats made it a dangerous combatant at long range, and Seulgi tried to compensate by going in for close range attacks. Garchomp's burn made attacking difficult though.

The two Trainers stared at each other, both trying to predict the other's next move. Seulgi shook her head. Now wasn't the time to get sucked into the battle. Irene's voice rang in her head. _Stay focused._

"Delphox, you've played with your prey enough," Jennie called, eyes glinting. "End this. Dazzling Gleam."

Seulgi's eyes widened and she tried to call Garchomp back out of range. How could she forget that Delphox was able to learn a Fairy-type move? Dragon-type Pokémon like her Garchomp were extremely vulnerable to Fairy-type attacks.

Garchomp tried to backpedal out of range of the attack but Delphox was prepared and had the shark Pokémon firmly in its sights. Seulgi swore again, realizing that no matter what she did Garchomp would have to take the attack.

"Garchomp this is your last chance buddy." Her Pokémon turned back to look at her. "Use Earthquake."

Garchomp nodded and the ground underneath everyone's feet began to rumble, setting Delphox off-balance. Seulgi could only hope that her attack connected.

Meanwhile Jennie's Delphox had raised the stick it carried around with it and with a flash of dazzling light Garchomp was brutally taken out of the fight. But as everyone's vision slowly returned after the attack they noticed that Delphox too had fallen to the super-effective Earthquake.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle," Jihyo declared.

Seulgi recalled her Garchomp, whispering an apology to her friend as she did so.

"And so it comes down to this," Jennie called, tossing her third Pokéball from hand to hand. They'd been on equal ground this whole match, giving as good as they had gotten. But Jennie had a secret weapon. She knew that Seulgi's remaining Pokémon were all weak to Ice-type attacks. And her final Pokémon would bring her the victory. "It's been nice battling you, but I think it's time for you to give up now."

She threw her Pokéball and out popped a very angry looking Weavile.

"Have fun trying to get past an Ice-type when all your Pokémon are weak to it," Jennie couldn't help but taunt Seulgi a little bit. She was confident she'd won at this point.

"It's not over until the last Pokémon is out," Seulgi replied. She held her third Pokéball almost reverently in her hands. Her final Pokémon had been waiting for this moment for a very long time. "Someone very important to me taught me that." Seulgi cocked her head at Jennie. "And who said _all_ my Pokémon are weak to Ice-types?"

Seulgi called out her last Pokémon. Her secret weapon. "Let's go, Alanis!"

XXX

Irene couldn't believe what she was seeing. Hadn't it only been a few days ago that the two of them were on a date and she commented on how cute Seulgi's Vulpix was?

Because standing on the battlefield wasn't the cute little fox Pokémon she'd been snuggling. No, standing proud and waving all nine tails menacingly at Weavile was the most beautiful Ninetales she'd ever seen.

When had Seulgi evolved him?

Irene looked at the expression on Jennie's face and had to stifle the snort that threatened to come out. Just a second ago Jennie looked confident that she had won the battle and now? Now Jennie looked like she was about to be sick.

_Never underestimate Kang Seulgi,_ the Kalos Champion grinned.

Wendy, Joy and Yeri too looked completely awestruck by the majestic Fire-type Pokémon on the field. "There's no way we're losing now," Yeri bounced up and down in her seat excitedly.

Back on the battlefield, Alanis growled at Weavile, who at least had the decency to look a little afraid.

"But your—and wasn't he just a Vulpix a couple of days ago?" Jennie was at a loss for words.

"We've been training for years now," Seulgi said, looking at her Ninetales proudly. "He only recently let me know he was ready to evolve."

Jennie gulped. She was counting on Seulgi to send out her Togekiss or Tyranitar, not a Ninetales. Speaking of Ninetales, was it just her or was it getting hotter and hotter by the second?

"Ninetales has the Drought ability," Joy breathed. "That's quite rare, Ninetales usually carries the Flash Fire ability."

The sun above everyone's heads seemed to intensify, sending rays of sunshine cascading onto the battlefield. Ninetales seemed to relish in the wave of heat, contrary to Weavile who paced back and forth uncomfortably with the abrupt change in weather.

"It's been nice battling you," Seulgi smiled, unable to resist throwing Jennie's words back in her face. "But I think it's time for you to give up now."

Jennie huffed, nodding at Seulgi. She knew when she was outplayed. And damn, maybe she should have thought about poaching _Seulgi_ away from Wendy instead of Irene.

"Alanis, let's show everyone just how strong you've gotten. Fire Blast!"

Powered up even further by the sun, Seulgi's Ninetales began charging his attack. His eyes began to glow orange and the tips of each of his nine tales began to smoke with energy. All Weavile could do was stand there, utterly terrified.

"Weavile is unable to battle," came Jihyo's call a moment later as she knelt down to examine the black scorch mark on the battlefield, a blackened and burnt Weavile at the center. "Seulgi wins."

The stands erupted into cheers as Seulgi was declared the winner.

Wendy, Joy and Yeri all hugged each other, cheering for her wildly.

A rush of fierce pride burned its way down Seulgi's body as she looked for Irene in the stands. She'd defeated Jennie and managed to keep Irene on their team for the competition. What could be better?

Irene looked up at her with the widest smile on her face before standing up and marching over to Seulgi. Any words of greeting that Seulgi was about to say were completely smothered when the Kalos Champion wrapped her arms around Seulgi's waist and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

The gathered students all began to whistle appreciatively at the scene.

When Irene pulled back Seulgi was left almost completely breathless, her heart still hammering in her chest from the victory she'd pulled off. "Whoa."

Irene tilted her head mischievously, "It's probably a little cheesy of me to say this but damn Seulgi. Look at you being _my _Champion for a change."

The blush that spread across Seulgi's cheeks could be seen from a mile away.


	22. Chapter 22

"Alright ladies, gather round!" Wendy slammed the table in front of her, causing Irene to jump slightly in her chair and glare at the other girl.

Seulgi and Irene had been approached by Wendy after the battle with Jennie and were told to come to the café just down the street from the Academy for a brief strategy session regarding the upcoming competition.

"Our team composition is officially confirmed as of about ten minutes ago," Wendy said, pulling out a thick manila folder and spreading its contents out on the table for everyone to see.

"No one else is challenging us for poaching rights?" Yeri asked, approaching the table with everyone's usual orders. She picked up a piece of paper with her name on it and started reading it over while sipping on her coffee.

"They're too scared of Seulgi," Joy snorted, rifling through the papers and grabbing hers. She thanked Yeri for the Americano and got back to reading. "After she beat the snot out of Jennie the three other teams that were in line to challenge us all withdrew."

Seulgi couldn't help the proud smile that made its way onto her face. She'd defeated Jennie in a fair battle and gotten the hottest girl in school to kiss her in front of everyone. What a rush.

Speaking of Irene, the Kalos Champion looked pleased to be working with Wendy and the others, judging from the way she immediately got to work looking at the dossiers Wendy had written up.

"Wow, these are really in-depth Wendy," Seulgi commented on her own dossier, which had her entire team's stats written up. Wendy had even included each individual Pokémon's likelihood of surviving a super-effective move. "I feel like I should ask how you got all this information, but maybe it's better I don't know."

"You would be correct, I'm not the kind of girl to kiss and tell," was Wendy's response. "They say knowledge is power and the more knowledge we have about our team and the synergies we can pull off the more prepared we'll be for this weekend."

Yeri pointed at the remaining papers on the table, "What are those for then?"

Wendy's smile made everyone shiver unconsciously. "Thank you for asking, Yeri. These are my pride and joy. I've done my best to compile all the information I can on the teams we'll be facing. These aren't complete because there are still some people out there who haven't pledged to a team, but I've got data on the ones most likely to cause a problem."

"You're an evil genius," Irene praised. Everyone turned to look at her. "What? I can appreciate hard work."

Wendy picked up her tablet and sent out a message in their group chat. "Here's what we're working with. We've got about five teams to worry about in this competition, not including Moonbyul and her girls."

"First is Blackpink. That's the team consisting of Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé. We've seen how Jennie battles, and her teammates are similar in their chosen style of battle. All of them are pretty decent coming up with strategies on the fly, but their one weakness is that they place a little too much importance on type matchups. We saw that earlier with Jennie's Weavile."

"So as long as we're aware that they're likely to try and switch out during an unfavorable matchup we should be fine," Joy concluded and Wendy nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Second threat is a group called Twice, which is Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu." Wendy had to pause for a moment and take a breath.

"A big team," Yeri commented. "They're also not all competitive battlers."

"Precisely!" Wendy was happy that someone else had come to the same conclusion. "That means this team isn't just good with strategy but their Pokémon are also all expertly bred. Their sheer numbers give them a lot of options too. Some of the girls specialize in doubles, particularly Nayeon and Jeongyeon."

"But that gives them a disadvantage too," Irene murmured. "Only a certain number of teammates are allowed in each bracket so they'll have a harder time figuring out who to send. If we can make our best guesses as to who's likely to be in each bracket that takes away their element of surprise."

Seulgi was impressed by Irene's deduction, but then again the girl wasn't a Champion for nothing.

"I'm so glad Seulgi convinced you to join us," Wendy said sincerely. Everyone was gelling really well together so far and she couldn't wait to actually start practicing with them. She cleared her throat and continued. "Anyway. Threat number three are the boys of BTS: Namjoon, Jin, Yoongi, J-Hope, Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook. They have Namjoon as their captain and let me be the first to tell you that this boy is _smart_. He can and will run circles around us strategy-wise. His teammates don't have the strongest Pokémon but they do all have some incredible synergy. Honestly, I hope we don't face them during our bracket."

"I agree," Irene said, picking up Namjoon's dossier and going over his team. "Theoretically, our best-case scenario has them losing to Moonbyul. She doesn't get shaken up over being outplayed in battle."

"And worst-case?" Seulgi was curious about what wisdom Irene had to share. "If we do have to battle them?"

"We can't psych ourselves out if it looks like we're losing to a better thought out strategy. Confidence in ourselves and our Pokémon will be what brings us victory against them."

Wendy nodded thoughtfully. She reached for the papers on BTS and began scribbling notes on them in neat handwriting. "I hadn't thought of that Irene, thanks. Have I told you how happy I am to have you on our team?"

Irene chuckled. "Once or twice. What about the last two teams? There's not much written on them."

"I tried my best, but this is the one team I don't have a lot of information on. All of them are freshmen this year, but they've shattered nearly every single school record set in the last decade. It's quite impressive."

"(G)-Idle and Itzy?" Joy tried pronouncing the team names. "Geez, everyone's being super creative this semester with names…"

"I think they pronounce it like "idle"," Wendy chimed in. "But that's not the point. Soyeon is the girl we need to watch out for in that group. She's tenacious, creative and her Pokémon have been expertly trained. She's the favorite to win the singles bracket. Even Moonbyul praised her work ethic."

"What about Itzy?" Irene had put on a pair of glasses to be able to take a better look at the compiled reports and Seulgi had to pinch herself so she wouldn't get distracted by just how gorgeous the Kalos Champion looked. _Whew, okay Seulgi. Strategy first, pretty girl second._

"Rookies for the most part, but they're already showing effective synergies at a level far beyond that of normal freshmen. Dealing with them will be a matter of dismantling their teamwork. I'd recommend going with a strategy that focuses heavily on special conditions that shake things up."

Irene nodded thoughtfully, biting the tip of her pen and writing down Wendy's comments. "This is a lot of information to digest in a short time but I'm confident we can handle it. I can rent out one of the battle arenas at the League Headquarters on Wednesday if you want me to, Wendy. That way we'd have a good place to practice away from prying eyes.

"Could you? Dude that'd be fantastic!" Wendy clapped her hands gleefully. She'd never been to the League Headquarters, supposedly their battle arenas were state of the art and even came with adjustable terrain. Her brain immediately started playing with all the different scenarios she could create.

"Well at least from _most_ prying eyes," Irene amended. "There's more than one person at this school who has access to the League Headquarters. Moonbyul probably has the same thought that I do."

Wendy waved her hand dismissively. "If they show up maybe we can scrimmage together or something. Ooh I wonder if I'll be able to see any famous trainers there. Arceus, I have so much planning to do…"

"And we've lost her," Joy laughed as her roommate immediately began tapping out her ideas for battle scenarios on her tablet, oblivious to everyone around her. "I think it's safe to call the meeting here. Thanks for coming on such short notice you two."

"Anytime, Joy." Seulgi didn't think it was possible for her to be any more excited about the opening ceremonies on Friday, but now after their strategy session she couldn't wait to start training with them tomorrow. "Oh! Before I forget, have we decided on a team name yet?"

Yeri's eyes lit up. "What do you guys think about Red Velvet?"

XXX

The sun was beginning to set by the time everyone returned to campus and both Seulgi and Irene thought it would be a good idea to grab some dinner at the dining hall before returning to their rooms.

The Academy's main dining hall was crowded, it was pizza and pasta night which was a favorite among many of the students. Seulgi spotted people from all three dorms waiting patiently in line and chuckled. Of course people would be flagrantly ignoring the rules set in place by Moonbyul and the other dorm captains. As far as the student body was concerned it didn't matter who had won the first dorm competition, all bets were cancelled when it came to pizza night. No one would be stuck eating at the food truck tonight.

She picked up a tray and got in line, Irene following behind her. They chatted idly about what they were in the mood for as the line began moving at a quick pace. A few minutes later they settled down at one of the few free tables, Seulgi with pizza and Irene with pasta. The pleasant buzz of overlapping voices filled the hall; occasionally Seulgi would catch a snippet of someone else's conversation. Pretty much all anyone could talk about was the upcoming competition.

"Friday's going to be wild," Seulgi commented. "Everyone's already so hyped up."

"It's the last competition of the year before summer break. There's usually a few League scouts that show up, trying to see if they can find any new talent."

Seulgi joked, "You hoping to get scouted?"

Irene played along, a smile on her face. "I can only hope someone out there notices my talent as a Pokémon Trainer."

"Who knows? Maybe one day you'll be a Champion." Seulgi grinned around her bite of pizza. Irene was cute when she played along with her silly jokes.

"A lofty goal. Maybe I'll get there one day," Irene replied.

Irene's tablet began vibrating and she leaned over to see who was calling. The smile immediately melted off her face and she pressed the decline button. "Why does he have to ruin a perfectly decent evening?"

"Who was calling?" Seulgi asked, taking another bite of her pizza. "It wasn't another reporter was it?"

Irene shook her head, "Worse. My father."

Seulgi tilted her head in confusion. Now that she thought about it, she never did hear Irene talk about her family. She didn't even know what Irene's parents' names were. "You're not going to answer it?"

The sneer that crossed the Champion's face reminded Seulgi of the night Irene sent her out to sleep in the kennels. It made her uncomfortable. "My dear father isn't worth my time. He's probably calling to yell at me for not telling him about the dorm competition this weekend."

"You don't want him to come watch?" What kind of relationship did Irene have with her parents that warranted the vitriolic response? Seulgi's parents were on their way to Kalos right now, taking the time to fly all the way from Johto to watch their daughter battle with her friends.

"He's always acted more like my manager than my father," Irene explained, poking angrily at the leftover pasta on her plate. Her posture betrayed the fact that she was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the conversation. Her tablet buzzed again and she reached over and turned it off with a muffled curse. "I already know what he's going to say. How dare I not tell him about this competition, it would be the perfect opportunity to do some more schmoozing with reporters and blah blah blah…Look, just drop it, okay?"

"Doesn't he deserve to come see you battle?" Seulgi pushed, seemingly unable to see the anger building in Irene's expression. She couldn't fathom a father not being interested in seeing his daughter's school affairs. Her own parents had always been in the front row for the important events in her life. "He is your father."

Irene's fork hit the plate with a clatter and she stood up, pushing her unfinished food away from her. "He doesn't deserve anything. He lost all rights as a father the second he decided being my manager and protecting our family's reputation was more important than being my parent."

Seulgi watched as Irene walked off without another word. People were starting to look at her so she quickly gathered up both of their plates and returned them to the kitchens before following after the Kalos Champion.

"Irene. Joohyun!" Seulgi stopped Irene in the hall as the other girl was about to walk out of the building. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

"I asked you to stop talking about my father and you just barreled on with the conversation regardless of my feelings." Irene's gaze was cold.

"I-I'm sorry, I thought you'd want your family to come see you. I guess I wasn't thinking." Seulgi's voice was soft and it trembled when she spoke.

"That's the first smart thing you've said all evening," Irene snapped. Seulgi looked up at her, the timid tone gone from her voice as she responded.

"Wow. Okay. No need to be rude. What's gotten into you?"

"Oh piss off, Kang," Irene all but hissed, her anger getting the better of her. "Don't act like you're the high and mighty one in this argument. We can't all have a perfect father who cares about his daughter and hugs her when she's hurting or wipes away her tears when she's sad."

Irene's words hit Seulgi in a way that had her beginning to tear up. This was the first time since they'd gotten together that Irene had gone back to treating her like she did when they first met. And it wasn't a nice feeling.

"Joohyun—"

"Just get out of my face, I can't even look at you right now. Why don't you go back to the kennels and just leave me alone?"

As soon as the words fell out of her mouth she knew she had said something regretful. _Arceus, I've really fucked up._

Irene watched Seulgi turn away from her and start walking away, trying unsuccessfully to hide the tears that were prickling at the edge of her vision

"Seulgi wait," She tried to grab the other girl's hand but Seulgi refused to even look at her as she walked out the front door.

Irene was left with a queasy stomach and deep sense of shame. As if she had no control over her body she pulled out her tablet and began typing a message to someone. She could feel her own tears beginning to run down her face as she waited for the response. It came only a second later and Irene began walking, her feet moving of their own accord. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to talk to Moonbyul.

XXX

Seulgi had retreated back to their shared room and with her vision still blurry from all the crying she'd done she walked up the stairs to her loft and collapsed on her bed, gathering the covers around her so they'd muffle the sound of her sniffling.

Seulgi's Ninetales popped out of his Pokéball unceremoniously and hopped on Seulgi's bed, sticking his snout underneath her covers to lick at the tears running down her cheeks.

"What are you doing out of your Pokéball?" Seulgi asked, her voice still thick with emotion. She scratched him underneath his chin. Alanis growled softly, as if he was answering her question. "You just wanted to make me feel better, huh?"

Ninetales huffed an affirmation and promptly sat on her, his plush tails curling around her legs. Seulgi groaned as the wind was almost knocked out of her. "Whoa there boy, you're not nearly as small as you used to be. I need to be able to breathe."

Alanis yipped, sounding almost offended by Seulgi's statement. He nibbled affectionately at her fingers.

"I know I shouldn't be crying like this," Seulgi said. She was glad to have someone to talk to, even if that someone couldn't talk back to her. "It's illogical to expect me and Irene to never have an argument. Still, her words hurt."

"_Ninetales." _

"You're right, I shouldn't have pushed her to talk about her father. It's obviously a sensitive topic and I didn't realize I was going too far. I guess I just thought she'd want to have her father there to see her battle."

"_Ninetales. Nine-Ninetales." _

"Yeah, both of us _do_ kind of suck at communicating with each other about uncomfortable topics." She scratched her Pokémon behind the ears. "I need to talk with her and work this out."

Her Ninetales nodded his head in agreement and shifted his bodyweight so he was no longer pinning her to the bed, choosing instead to curl up in a ball next to her. Seulgi absentmindedly carded her fingers through his golden fur as she started to think about what she wanted to say to Irene when the Champion returned to their room.

She didn't have to wait long, as a few minutes later she heard the telltale creak of their door. Ninetales lifted his head, ears pricked as the door shut softly behind Irene. He nudged his Trainer to alert her.

Seulgi sat up in bed and recalled her partner, placing his Pokéball in its overnight healer and padding down the spiral staircase to approach Irene.

The first thing she noticed was that Irene also looked like she had been crying.

"I'm sorry."

"I shouldn't have—"

Seulgi smiled softly and gestured for Irene to go first, sitting down at her desk chair to listen to what the other girl had to say.

Irene took a shaky breath. "I wanted to apologize to you, Seulgi. It was unfair of me to react the way I did when you pushed me about my father. Not many people know about my relationship with him and I was uncomfortable with the way you were talking about how he'd want to see me battle this weekend."

Seulgi reached for Irene's hand and held it. It was her turn now. "And I'm sorry that I didn't see your unease. I assumed that you would want your father there this weekend and I didn't bother to ask how you would feel about it."

"That doesn't excuse the way I treated you, Seul." Irene knelt down so her face was level with Seulgi's and shook her head, breaking away from Seulgi's grip and placing her hand on Seulgi's cheek, with love in her eyes. "I knew going into this relationship that there would be uncomfortable things brought up, and I need to learn how to be better at communicating my discomfort with other people. If I want us to work, I need to realize that interactions go both ways. You have brought me more happiness in the last few weeks then I've had since Dante died. So please believe me when I say that I'm sorry and I'll do better next time."

Seulgi kissed Irene's fingertips. "And I'll do better to not get caught up in the situation and be aware of your feelings. I really do like you Irene. You're an amazing girl with an amazing mind who deserves a family that cares about you as a person rather than as a means to a paycheck."

"I've got all the family I need with you and Moonbyul," Irene let herself smile, looking over at Seulgi's desk to the picture they had taken together at Moonbyul's mansion. "And Wendy, Joy, Yeri." She paused to take a breath. "And Jihyo, Daniel, Solar…"

"We've really gathered a bunch of misfits together, haven't we?" The two of them moved to Irene's bed and sat down.

"I think that's all you," Irene pointed out. She laid down on the bed and held out her arms so Seulgi could join her. "You befriended Wendy and her roommates. Then you stole Moonbyul's heart the night she met you out by the kennels. Solar loves everyone she meets and Jihyo is constantly talking about how well you're doing in her class. You're the heart of this little family, Seulgi. I'm simply along for the ride."

Seulgi sank into Irene's embrace.

"So that was our first fight, huh?" Seulgi asked, burrowing deeper into Irene's hold and relishing in the sweet scent of the other girl's perfume.

"I guess it was," came the soft reply. Irene shifted in place to wrap one arm around Seulgi's waist, her left hand playing idly with a loose thread on the other girl's shirt. "Thank you for bringing me back to my senses."

"I said I'd always be here for you Joohyun. Even if it's to tell you that you're being an asshole."

Irene chuckled. "You and Moonbyul are the only two people in the world who aren't afraid to call me out on my bullshit."

"That's because everyone else is terrified of you, babe." The word slipped out so naturally that Seulgi didn't even notice until Irene's hand froze in place. "What's wrong?"

Irene's cheeks had turned pink and she cleared her throat. "You've never called me 'babe' before. I like it."

"I'll keep that in mind for the future," Seulgi grinned, picking up Irene's smaller hand in her own and entwining their fingers. "Oh! Before I forget…"

Though the bed was extremely comfortable, Seulgi forced herself to detach from Irene as she stood up. She had to stop herself from 'aww-ing' when she heard Irene's whine of disapproval. Walking towards her desk she picked up a fancy red envelope and brought it over to the other girl. "I found this slipped under our door this evening before you came back."

Irene reached for the proffered envelope and slipped a fingernail underneath the golden wax seal to open it. "Is it that time of year already?"

Seulgi tilted her head. "Time for what?"

"The annual Champion's Ball. Leeteuk told me about it when I crossed into the Hall of Fame. Every year a region is selected to host a ball to honor those Trainers who have beaten their region's Champions." Irene's eyes darted across the page. "Huh."

"What?" Irene handed Seulgi the letter so she could read it for herself.

_Dear Ms. Bae,_

_The United Champions Association is pleased to announce that this year's Champion's Ball will be held in the Kalos region on Saturday the 19__th__ of May from 8:00-11:00pm. If you are able to attend the event please visit the event's website and fill out the questionnaire with the names of your party so our lists are updated. Guests are asked to wear formal attire for this evening. Thank you for your dedication and we hope to see you for an exciting evening!_

_Sincerely,_

_Lee Soo Man_

_President of the United Champions Association_

"The ball's on Saturday night?" Seulgi asked, lifting her head up to look at Irene. She crawled back into bed with the other girl. "What if our team makes it to the finals? We'd have to battle early the next morning."

"It's not an ideal situation, I agree. I have no problem backing out of the ball if Red Velvet survives to the third day of the competition." Irene placed the letter on her bedside table and lifted the covers up so the two of them could curl up together. "I'll probably get a lecture from Leeteuk though on 'responsibility'."

Seulgi thought about it for a moment. That Irene was willing to back out of perhaps the most important event of the year if their team made it to the finals of the competition showed just how dedicated she was. _But she shouldn't have to…_

"We can make it work," the words fell out of Seulgi's mouth. She turned to Irene. "I mean, if you want it to. You shouldn't have to pick between the ball and the competition. Hell, there isn't even a guarantee that we make it to the finals."

Irene snorted. "Please, have you seen our team? If we don't make it to the finals I'll offer to be Moonbyul's personal servant for a week. I guess my only issue with the ball is that…" she paused briefly and the next sentence came rushing out. "Idon'twanttogoalone."

"Why Bae Joohyun, is this you asking me if I'll go to a fancy ball with you?" Seulgi's teasing tone brought a smile to Irene's face.

"Ya, who says I want to take you?" The Kalos Champion gently shoved Seulgi's shoulder. "But I mean if you wanted to go with me…."

"Absolutely yes." Seulgi leaned in and the two of them shared a gentle kiss. They broke apart, staring into each other's eyes and enjoying the moment. Irene bit her lip, and Seulgi swore her heart almost flooded with affection for the shorter girl.

Irene shifted next to her and rolled over to grab the tablet that was currently charging on her bedside table. "Let me RSVP then…"

Seulgi reached over and, with her longer arms, pinned Irene's wrists to the bed to prevent her from grabbing the tablet. Irene gave her a confused look. "Do it in the morning, Hyun. We were having a moment."

Irene took note of how deep Seulgi's voice had gotten and chuckled under her breath. "All right then. Please continue, Kang Seulgi."

Seulgi growled, and in one smooth movement she captured Irene's lips with her own.


End file.
